QQueues that stretched for almost a mile where students, parents, teachers and curious visitors stood patiently for their turn to attend not any entertainment show, but lectures and exhibitions! That’s the pull IIT-Bombay’s annual Science and Technology festival – Techfest – has. The three days from December 26-29 at the institute’s Powai campus saw a staggering footfall of 1,65,000.
So what was in store for those attending the festival at the sprawling, huge and green campus of one of the country’s premiere science institutes?
There were lectures by luminaries like the former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, and 2012 Nobel Prize winner in Physics Prof. Serge Haroche, workshops in cloud computing and exhibitions where all-terrain robots were on display, among other fascinating exhibits. The festival has grown to become so popular that it saw students from around 2,500 colleges participating in various events. But all was not only serious at this festival. Robowars, the event that draws massive crowds every year had robots, built and controlled by students, in deadly combat with each other. The winning robot was cheered and admired for its design and style by those gathered to watch the thrilling event. At the full throttle event, student participants were given an opportunity to build their own IC car that travelled across various terrains. While some stopped midway, others crossed the finishing line to loud cheers!
The exhibitions that showcased cutting edge technologies continued to be the highlight of Techfest 2015, apart from lectures from eminent personalities Eric Klinker (CEO, Bit Torrent) and Nik Powell (Co-founder, Virgin Group).
Talking about the takeaway from the festival, Anuraj Gupta, a 3rd year student of Mechanical Engineering at IIT-B says, “The festival was a huge platform where I could showcase my managerial skills, and it provided me with a great experience of team-work.”
Techfest this year entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of magic lessons learnt by most number of people simultaneously.
The festival also hosted an International Summit that was attended by delegates from Microsoft, IBM, Qualcomm and other tech giants who spoke about the theme ‘Internet of Things’.
Gupta believes that the festival was a good opportunity for students to hone various skills that would help them at different stages of campus placements.
The popular exhibits
A gleaming BMW, but you cannot touch it: Those not headed to the heavy worded lectures and the technical workshops made their way to the exhibition area. The most popular exhibit was easily the bright, blue, gleaming BMW i8 car that can go from 0 to 100km/h in just 4.4 seconds. The car had even the little kids tagging along with their parents, excitedly.
Robots that play football: Not just humans but robots too can play football. Dutch Nao Team from Netherlands brought along their robots that demonstrated just that.
This robot gets angry: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said that he would like to employ a robot to be his assistant to manage his home and work, calling it his personal project for 2016. Well, he can spare himself the effort and look only as far as Switzerland. The team Jinn Bot from the alpine country brought with it a robot that can hear and speak. What’s more? It has its own personality and can even express moods such as joy and anger!
There were also enchanting events by international artistes, mesmerising setups, whacky competitions – all with a tinge of technology to liven up the three days. During his speech, Prof. Haroche stressed on the need to be curious and invest money in sustaining basic scientific research as it eventually leads to innovations one would have never thought about. This is also a message the annual festival wants students to learn – stay curious.
