TechTatva’17 Events In-Short: Day One

Mobivision

By Turing

Round 1

Mobivision, conducted by Turing focused on the present day’s advancements in mobile app technology by providing a platform for students to present apps that they have developed on their own. They were required to make a presentation of the application and display a prototype with working user interfaces. They were judged based on the authenticity of their code with severe scrutiny, along with how relevant the motive of the app was with respect to everyday problems. Apps from different domains were presented in great detail.  Conversion of data into Morse Code vibrations for disabled people, NFC based vaccination history for infants and a unique home food ordering app were a few of the ideas that were presented. Freshmen were a rare sight as they lacked the technical expertise to contribute to the event yet. Sahal, the coordinator of the event was pleased with the participation, and spoke about how the workshops held prior to the event played a major role in inciting an innovative temperament amidst students.

• Ashresh Marupaka, for MTTN.

PIN 13

By Alacrity

Described as a mishmash of events centred around electrical and electronics engineering, PIN 13, a 3 day event, was flagged off today. The Rummy based team event kept participants on their toes. The contestants found the rules of play to be complex and repeated explanations delayed the start of the event. The organisers were expecting a large turnout but had to settle for something mediocre. According to the Alacrity category head, rounds two and three are expected to provide a greater challenge to the players.

• Tushar Machavolu, for MTTN.

MIQ

By Acumen

Round 1

MIQ or Manipal Intelligence Quiz is an event which tests the IQ and logical reasoning abilities of the taker. Round 1 is scheduled to last three days and day one consisted of a 35 minute written examination which had a turnout of almost a hundred participants. True to Tech Tatva fashion, the event started an hour past its scheduled time and for a little over half an hour all one could see was faces squinted in concentration and the movement of pens. Of all the participants across all three days of round one, only 8 will be selected for rounds two and three. When asked, most of the participants agreed that the primary reason for taking the test was its ability to be fun and challenging without requiring any prior preparation.

• Natasha Kumar, for MTTN. 

Bourne Again

By Turing

After days of engrossing workshops of learning Python and Webscript, the day finally arrived for the participants of Bourne Again to showcase their codes which they had been tirelessly working on for a week. Live scores, quicker updates or any code which could be used for automation was the main idea behind this scripting event. Although the event had a dull atmosphere to it, the 8 coders didn’t let this affect them as they each presented their own interesting scripts to the judge. “It went better than last year”, said Akash Gupta, Category Head of Turing. After wrapping up the event in less than an hour, the participants eagerly awaited the results of the single round event.

• Sushant Reddy, for MTTN.

Survival Limit

By Epsilon

Round 1

The countdown had started. The pressure was on. Who would make it till the end? A challenge. The last man standing wins. Here, natural human instinct mattered. Participants were put in life-threatening, heart-racing situations, and to survive or not was all their choice. The rules of the event were simple—on choosing the most appropriate answer in the written questionnaire, the count of ‘survivals’ increased, and got the participants closer to qualifying for the following round. The first day of the event saw a gradually increasing turnout, and finally started an hour beyond time, after a considerable amount of participants showed up. On the third day, seven teams will move on to a buzzer round which ties in to ‘Realising Fiction’ with questions ranging from sci-fi to politics. It all culminates in a final technical treasure hunt for the third round, which sees four to five teams battle it out. In its first year of organisation, this fight for the fittest is one to beware of.

• Mahia DeSylva, for MTTN.

Hover Rover

By Mechanize

Round 1

Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic and the folks at Hover Rover by Mechanize were looking to achieve just that. As suggested by the name, Hover Rover is an event in which the participants are given materials and a general gist and are expected to apply their knowledge of physics and thrust to build a hovercraft. Being one the first events of Tech Tatva’17, Hover Rover kicked off its pen and paper round half an hour behind schedule. It largely tested the taker’s knowledge in physics and lasted 45 minutes. As participants singly or in teams of two and three poured over their question papers, the event head Sanket spoke about how it was just an idea two months ago and is now a reality. Out of the 15-20 teams that participated in the event, only four will be moving forward to the next round which will consist of prototype building.

• Natasha Kumar, for MTTN.

Fox Hunt

By Alacrity

Round 1

The event tested the participants’ logical reasoning and technical knowledge; by no means easy. In a one hour duration, an eager room full of people needed to prove that they had what it takes to find the ‘treasure’.  Treasure refers to the transmitting antenna hidden anywhere on campus that has to be found at the end of round three. From the mechanical building, to the electronic circuits, technical experts were present to guide participants through it all (if they got through round one, that is). Only ten teams got through, however the event saw no elimination after that. The event, initiated from the time the Director was in college, was off to a good start, with an enthusiastic response from within the campus as well as outside it. The first round saw a full classroom of students all pouring over their sheets, scribbling furiously, scrunching their foreheads in confusion, and raising their eyebrows in realisation.

• Mahia DeSylva, for MTTN.

Mazer Lazer

By Alacrity

Round 1

Mazer Lazer, an optics based event under the category ‘Alacrity’, hosted their first round today afternoon. The event suffered a slight delay of 30 minutes, but it managed to pick its pace right back up. The first round of Mazer Lazer was a half an hour long written round. The teams and individuals alike were made to sit down to answer a test, in an attempt to measure the theoretical knowledge of the candidates in the field of basic optics. The gentle buzz about the room, the flash of the cameras, the occasional peek into the hustle and bustle outside when the doors were opened, none of these could break the concentration of the candidates who were determined to showcase their skills and to prove their right to belong in the competition.

The written round was the first of the three rounds that would be held under ‘Mazer Lazer’, with the final round being an extravagant display of manipulation of light, in a beautiful dance between art and science.

A sense of relief settled in the room as the tense atmosphere of the test came to a close. “The paper was easy and I am really looking forward to participating in the future rounds.” exclaimed Harshit Gurani, one of the several participants of the event, as they await, with crossed fingers, the result of the first round.

• Savio Joshua, for MTTN.

AIB

By Acumen

Round 1

AIB or Acumen IQ Bash, one of the first events of Tech Tatva 2017, is an event wherein participants compete to solve questions in physics, chemistry and maths by means of lateral thinking. Over one hour past the scheduled time, the event began with the distribution of the questionnaires. Participants, in teams of two, sat down to solve them without the aid of phones or calculators. The head co-ordinator of the event, Rishav said, “We have the biggest turnout of any event in TechTatva. This year we’ve given a twist to the event by incorporating a Game of Thrones theme wherein qualifying teams move up in higher ranks or higher thrones.”

• Anushka Chhikara, for MTTN.

Crash Course

By Kraftwagen

Round 3

‘Safety first’ was the order of the day as the third and final round of Crash Course took place. In the previous rounds, the contestants had been taught to construct a chassis (the framework of an automobile) using the mechanical software, CATIA. The virtual prototypes were then put through a crash simulation – Ansys. Only the mathematically and scientifically tested prototypes moved on to the finals. The three teams who made the cut, were given material to construct a real 3D version of their model, prior to the third round. Following a brief introduction by the teams, the model chassis was then put through a real-life crash test during Round 3. The results were carefully recorded and replayed, awaiting final judgement by the Category Head – Himanshu Malik, and Event Heads – Adharsh and Nishika.

• Nidhi Rao, for MTTN.

Smart Builders

By Constructure

Round 1

In coherence with Narendra Modi’s ‘Smart Cities Mission’, Smart Builders proved to be an excellent opportunity for young innovators to create citizen friendly and sustainable designs. The first round challenged the participants to design a green house. Though each team consisted of only two people, the room was buzzing as they scrambled around to get accurate measurements. The qualifying teams will progress to the second round, with the task of planning a town which could cater to the growing needs of a rising population. The turnout of the event was quite good and the atmosphere lively, though some of this could be attributed to the incessant hollering by the organizers.

• Debleena Ganguly, for MTTN.

Guide the Laser

By Robotrek

Round 1

Guide the Laser by Robotrek was every Hunger Games/ Star Wars fan’s dream event. Round 1 consisted of a simple maze, with mirrors placed at small distances. The aim was to direct a laser beam to fall on a placard placed at the exit point, using the different mirrors. The participants had to use a remote controlled bot to traverse the maze in complete darkness, in order to rotate the mirrors.

The amount of effort put in organising the event was very evident, but everyone’s spirits were a little dampened by the low turnout.

“We did expect slightly less participation, because of the slightly higher level of our event, but I’m satisfied with how my entire team worked. It’s good to know that there was no lack of effort from our side.” said Subhraneil Das (Category Head).

• Gaurangi Gupta, for MTTN.

Mice Maze

By Mechatron

Round 1

Like the name suggests, Mice Maze by Mechatron was an event riddled with confusion. The participants were required to recreate their own version of the “Micebot” which had been demonstrated to them at a workshop held prior to the fest, using a variety of robotic sensors and the arduino programming software. The enthusiastic contestants were then judged based on the uniqueness of their Robot and how cleverly they were able to use their programming skills to manoeuvre the robot around the maze. This was the first edition of the mice maze event, which the event heads believed would be a very useful starting point in terms of programming for these young minds. “The Mice Maze event will bring out innovation in simplicity, in keeping with this year’s motto ‘Realizing Fiction’” said category head, Tejas De. While there was hope that the turnout would be a bit more, the event delivered very well in terms of the enthusiasm of the contestants and their knowledge about the given scenario. The final round of the event is scheduled to be held on the 5^th of October. Hopefully if one was to ever get completely messed up in a maze, he or she would know how to conjure up a robot to save themselves.

• Clevon Peris, for MTTN.

Mechanics Assemble

By Mechanize

Round 1

For the engineering minds that lack the artistic skills to convert thought to action, Mechanics Assemble was an event to attend. The first round was a simulation of the designing skills of the participants and tested their real life perceptions on how a given model or work-piece would look like. In three slots of ninety minutes each, the participants were given a series of constructive models which they had to represent using the CATIA software. The more accurate their perceptions and the quicker they did it, the more the points they were resultantly awarded. Many of these bright minds seemed quite fascinated with the use of CATIA and its reasonable simplicity. “CATIA is capable of representing 3D models in a much more understandable way than any other software. It also makes it much easier to represent real-life models in a simulative manner, which is far more efficient than having to create a prototype working model” added the category head. The event had been reincarnated from its previous existence as CAD It Up, and was a true test of mechanical creativity. The turnout was quite good but was deterred by the delay in distribution of laptops to the first year students. The first round is scheduled to be continued on the 5^th of October, before the final round.

• Clevon Peris, for MTTN.

Magnet Gun

By Electrific

Round 1

Electrific’s Magnet Gun made an appearance after two years and saw a classroom filled with 41 participants, all eagerly awaiting further instructions about the event. There were around 15 teams, each consisting of a maximum of 4 members. Shreyansh M, the event head said he made it a team event to make more people turn up. Each participant was soon given a questionnaire to be filled with questions basically related to magnets, along with aptitude questions because every test in a competition is incomplete without one. It was simple stuff, information one would know if they chose science in their final years of school. Two simple rules- no phones, and no discussions. Out of the 15 and odd teams that turned up, only 5 qualified for the second round which is to be held on Saturday. The average score of a team was the qualifying factor that decided whether they moved forward in the competition. The test lasted an hour as people ruffled their hair, stared at their papers and looked up hoping to get a sudden bolt of wisdom. Once finished, they entered their names in the database and grinned with their friends as they left the room. The second round will require the students to create a magnetic field using two magnets and a cardboard, and make use of the principle of repulsion to bounce the small magnet (the bullet) around the farthest. The one that covers the most distance, wins.

• Karthika Venugopal, for MTTN.

All Tech Race (ATR)

By Acumen

Round 1

Acumen’s All Tech Race was an event to be at for all those who consider themselves intellectual superiors. Round one of the event was a written quiz consisting of three sections, with each section progressively tougher than the last one. The event heads were mightily pleased by the impressive turnout, which was a marked increase from last year, and is expected to improve even further in the next two days of the event.

The ‘Race’ was merely based on logical thinking and represented how one can make a complicated situation look quite easy merely by thinking outside the box, yet keeping things simple, as was the opinion of the event heads and organizers alike. The questions were not based on any form of general knowledge or academics, but simply applied logical thinking abilities. Some questions left the participants all out of sorts; one of them questioning how the sum of five odd numbers can be an even number (nope, me neither).

Round one will also be held on the 5^th and 6^th of October, before the eight highest scorers move on to the final round on 7^th October, which will be a Treasure Hunt like event.

• Clevon Peris, for MTTN.

Clash of Chemicals

By Cheminova

Final Round

It was a race against time, as 7 teams competed in Clash of Chemicals. The treasure hunt began, as teams of two worked to solve the first clue. Each clue corresponded to a certain chemical compound. The subsequent clues were found at the location of the previous clue’s compound. After the first two compounds were found and correctly identified, they were reacted to give the third compound. Upon successfully identifying the product, the fourth and final clue was scavenged. This unknown compound was evaluated by salt analysis, which was taught to the contestants during the workshop prior to the event. The first team to successfully identify the last salt was crowned the winner. The event was executed smoothly, thanks to the dedicated Cheminova team.

• Nidhi Rao, for MTTN.

Air-O-Mania

By Mechanize

Round 1

The first round of Air-O-Mania involved both logic and creative thinking. Seven teams of one to three members took part in this pneumatics-based competition. The teams were tasked with building an air gun. The gun was to be built to shoot a pellet, using air pressure. The teams were given 2 hours to build their air guns, while the last one hour was reserved for testing the air guns. This included knocking off objects with the pellets fired from the guns. The judging panel was led by Mechanize Category Head – Satwik Mohanty. Out of seven teams, only four advanced to the final round.

• Nidhi Rao, for MTTN.

Bailout

By Bizzmaestro

Round 1

Bizzmaestro hosted their event Bailout for the first time in Tech Tatva history on the 4^th of October, 2017. The event was inspired from the 2008 economic crisis. The first round held on day one, was an aptitude test with questions mainly based on finance and general knowledge. There were six teams in total with two members each. “Realising fiction in its abstract sense means to come up with hypothetical things or things which haven’t happened yet, so even though our event is a play on the 2008 US crisis, we have a lot of hypothetical events which haven’t happened yet. For example, Golden Shacks is a bank which will never go out of running but we put up a hypothetical situation that stated that Golden Shack was bankrupt.” said organiser Akhil when asked the relation between the event and the Tech Tatva theme ‘Realising Fiction’. Event head Prashant further commented “We have worked on this for a week and I am pretty satisfied with the turnout for the event.”

• Sayantani Saha, for MTTN.

Ecorover

By Energia

Round 1

Thinking about the current environmental conditions and survival of the future generations, Energia organised Ecorove—an event where the students were supposed to make a solar vehicle which could be used as modern-day household vehicle. The event was to challenge the participants to play with their creativity coupled with scientific knowledge. Content head Kelvin noted the poor turnout, owing to the fact that the first year students’ lack of laptops. “We expected more participants as there were forty students for the workshop,” he added. In the pre- Teach Tatva week, the category organised a workshop where students were taught the basics of the 3D modelling software where they had to design their next generation solar energy vehicle. The two participants presented their models to the judges and hence ended the supposedly two hour long event in forty minutes.

• Disha Acharya, for MTTN.

Buzzinga

By Bizzmaestro

Round 1

Buzzinga by Bizzmaestro took place on day one of the annual tech fest of MIT. The event gives amateurs a chance at running their own company by giving them a chance to manage a corporate powerhouse and outclass their contemporaries.

The first round of this three round event was held on day one. The participants had to take a general written test on business related questions. The atmosphere was somber, but a few students were enthusiastic about the event. On being asked the relevance of the event to this year’s Tech Tatva theme, the Event Head (Arnav) said that the essence of realising fiction came from the participants’ presentation of creative ideas to the investors.

• Sayantani Saha, for MTTN.

Conkreation

By Constructure

Round 1

Day 1 of Constructure’s Conkreation saw ten teams participate in a three hour contest to build an unplastered brick structure. The teams were given the raw material, the basic dimensions, and were then free to utilise the resources as they saw fit. Conkreation has been receiving a high pull of participants constantly for the past 4 years, which is why the difficulty level was raised this time.   Rather than having to build a simple cube like in the previous editions, this time the participants are to build a dam. The participants will have to plaster the same in the forthcoming rounds, which would then be tested against the flow of a stream of water. A test of endurance, teamwork, and grit, Conkreation is certainly an event to keep an eye out for.

• Pujan Parikh, for MTTN.

Resolve the Maze

By Electrific

Round 1

The event started way off schedule as participants were seen waiting for the NLH room to fill up. The first round of the event consisted of a written test where participants were supposed to answer questions related Arduino technology. People who qualify for the second round will be given Arduino chips to program, and attach them to machines to produce the desired output.

• Peeyush Chauhan, for MTTN.

Make It Easy

By Airborne

Round 0

Make it Easy by Airborne dealt with what goes into an airport. It covered everything from the basics to the techy-geeky stuff like decrypting runway-jargon. The event organised one day one was more of a boot-camp to warm up the participants and acclimatise them with the works and everything that goes into the day-to-day functioning of an actual airport. The event required participants to work as a team. The overall atmosphere was that of a lecture wherein one of the organisers did the talking and the participants did the frantic jotting. The turnout and diversity in branches amongst participants surprised the category head who further added “. The real competition would begin tomorrow as only those who qualify Round One would be allowed to participate in the next round”.

• Tushar Machavolu, for MTTN.