IIT SPECIAL ...................TOP TEN TECHFEST TREATS

TOP TEN TECHFEST TREATS



10 favourite exhibits for a complete experience of IIT Techfest

After reaching an attendance of nearly 1,35,000 last year, IIT Techfest is back this year, bigger, better and with more robots.

The annual festival held on the IIT Powai campus features several lectures from high profile scientists and engineers including Nobel laureate Ada Yonath and Kurt Wuthrich, former president of India A P J Abdul Kalam and Vint Cerf who is regarded as one of the fathers of the Internet. If lectures are not your thing, there are a bunch of fun workshops for people who want to learn how to juggle, hula hoop or even analyse handwriting.

There are also a ton of activities like the bungee running, go karting, body zorbing and laser tag sessions happening around the campus.

IIT Powai Techfest ended on Sunday, 4 January, 2015.

1 OPEN-SOURCE 3D PRINTED LIFE-SIZE ROBOT

If you ever wanted to build your own robot, you need to go to this stall. The InMoov bot seen here can be built in a relatively tiny 3D printer, cheap servos, Arduino boards and off-the-shelf parts. Even the software is open source.WHERE: International Exhibits (KV Grounds)

2 ROBOWARS

Metal takes on metal as the robots go to war. Watch the adrenaline surge as robots armed with saws, hammers and armour take on the competition by pinning them to a corner and bashing the one and zeros into them. Fun Stuff.

WHERE: Robowars (SOM Well)

3 SEPIOS

Sepios is a cuttlefish inspired robot that is super silent and can navigate in the water to a depth of around five feet with relative ease. Sepios' electricals are hidden within the polycarbonate hull to keep them away from water.WHERE: International Exhibits (KV Grounds)

4 BIONICOHAND

The Bionico Hand is another project from the InMoov stall that you have to check out. The hand is a 3D printed open source prosthetic created by Nicolas Huchet.The prosthetic uses sensors to automatically move the hand when needed.WHERE: International Exhibits (KV Grounds)

5 OCULUS RIFT

Oculus Rift has been in the news for more than a year now, especially after Facebook acquired the company.

But if you want to experience the device, Techfest has a setup where you can watch a 5-minute rollercoaster demo.WHERE: OZONE (SOM Foyer)

6 FLIGHT SIMULATOR

You might want to hold off eating anything while at IIT just so you can experience the Gs with this nifty flight simulator. The exhibit takes you through a jet simulation where you have to take down enemy aircrafts.

WHERE: OZONE (SOM Foyer)

7 BEACH BOT

Beachbot is a beach ball-sized robot that can write and draw in sand autonomously, the bot can detect the size of its frame using reflective sticks as markers, creating the design within the area. The exhibit at IIT has a sandbox for the bot.

WHERE: International Exhibits (KV Grounds)

8 WORLD'S SMALLEST ELECTRIC BIKE

The MECH CUB is a tiny 26.5cm-long bike that weighs in at 4.7kgs and can carry a maximum weight of 80kgs.The electric bike running on a 12V battery also has a USB port to charge your devices and a 2Watt LED bulb to light up the road.

WHERE: Indian Exhibit (MB Roads)

9 AUTOMATED CHESS

Created by students from KJ Somaiya the automated chess board called Riidl, can help you play a physical game of chess over the Internet. The chess pieces are moved with magnets while an Arduino board powers the device.

WHERE: International Exhibits (KV Grounds)

10 FULL THROTTLE

IIT Powai's favourite fuel burning competition is back with college students competing with their mean machines on a dirt track that is a notch tougher than last year. It should be noted that the participants have to build their own car.

Jaison Lewis  MM 3JAN15