APOGEE is the annual, international technical festival of BITS Pilani is going to be held from 21 st-25 th February, 2018. Following are the list of attraction of Apogee 2018.
This APOGEE brings a fresh batch of exhibitions that have the potential to excite audiences and give them the opportunity to experience the latest advancements in technology. These exhibitions seek to demonstrate the 'Cybernetic Vision' of the future.
Some of the exhibitions that you can expect this APOGEE are:
The revolutionary NAO Bot developed by SoftBank Robotics is the epitome of consumer level robotics available today. As a programmable robot, it can be repurposed to perform a wide range of tasks. Since its creation in 2004, it has been constantly upgraded to incorporate the latest advancements in technology. The NAO Bot has become the standard in many programmable robot championships, like the RoboCup. It has also been used in the education industry as a teaching assistant, further demonstrating its versatility. This humanoid robot will surely enthral the audience with its capabilities and give them a glimpse of the technology of tomorrow.
The Border Security Force's indigenous Tear Gas Unit was established in 1976 to give the crowd control forces a method to curb riot violence. The TSU (Tear Smoke Unit) is trained to perform in high pressure situations, with citizens' lives at stake. This exhibit will give the audience an opportunity to grasp the capability of our forces, and will demonstrate the latest advancements in military crowd control technology.
As drones gradually become a bigger part of our lives, their abilities grow exponentially. Today, we stand at the cusp of human-drone integration, with enormous scope for medical, scientific, and commercial applications. This exhibit will demonstrate a working mind controlled drone, giving us a peek into the future of our businesses and homes.
The Mitra Robot is a five-foot-tall humanoid robot indigenously produced by Invento Robotics, in Bengaluru. Designed primarily for use as an interface system, Mitra is already used by many cinemas and bank outlets. As the first of its kind ever produced in India, Mitra is pushing the envelope in Robotics Technology, showcasing India's growing prowess in robotics science. The Mitra robot was also featured in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit where it greeted PM Modi and Ivanka Trump.
The exhibits of the Formula-Student and BAJA teams from BITS are expected to be crowd-pullers this APOGEE. By integrating their knowledge of the theoretical aspects of science with the practical, the FS and BaJa teams have built powerful racing and endurance vehicles respectively. The FS and BaJa exhibit is guaranteed to leave the BITSian junta beaming with pride, and will showcase BITS's own engineering excellence.
Indian Navy Exhibition:
An exhibition of Indian Navy parts.
APOGEE 2018 promises a mix of speakers who come from diverse backgrounds, to deliver a talk on a unique idea with a powerful message.
Danielle Feinberg is the Director of Photography and Lighting at Pixar. She has been the Director of Lighting for Academy Award winning films such as WALL-E and Brave (and more recently, Coco). A Computer Science graduate from Harvard University, Feinberg now also mentors teenage girls - encouraging them to pursue science.
Ravi Subramanian is an Indian author and banker. He is an IIM Bangalore graduate with more than 20 years of banking experience under his belt. He has written many popular thrillers about banking, including an award-winning trilogy centered around it. He also writes popular columns for well-known magazines, and has worked with companies like Citibank, HSBC, and ANZ Grindlays.
Vasu Primlani is a celebrated speaker, environmentalist, actor, professor, somatic therapist, triathlete, baker, and is one of India's top comedians. Ms. Primlani employs comedy to disseminate issues of social messaging, particularly around boundaries, civic sense, gender equity, and the concept of consent, per US civic society standards.
Sudha Menon is an author, a columnist, and a writing coach. An author of four non-fictional books, she has over 20 years of journalistic experience with reputable organizations such as The Independent and Mint. She is currently also a motivational speaker, running workshops and women's leadership sessions for institutions across the country.
Manasi Kirloskar is the only child of Vikram and Geetanjali Kirloskar. Manasi studied at the Mallya Aditi International School in Bengaluru, and graduated in Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. Now serving as the Executive Director of Kirloskar Systems Ltd., she has also started, and now spearheads, their real estate vertical.
Anil Kumar Gupta is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a globally renowned scholar in the area of grassroots innovations - radical, community led changes in day-to-day life that offer more sustainability. He is the founder of Honey Bee Network - a Gujarat-based organization that provides institutional support for helping grassroots innovations across the country.
David G. Stork is a computational scientist whose focus of research is computational sensing and imaging. A fellow of the highly reputed DIMM chipset manufacturer Rambus Labs, Stork is the author of many papers with citations from technological researchers across the world.
Here is a list of kernel events that we can expect in APOGEE 2018:
Full Throttle Grand Prix (FTGP)
Full Throttle Grand Prix is a remote-control (RC) car racing event on a specially designed track. The event tests contestants' ability to build an IC engine powered RC car, as well as their ability to drive it on difficult tracks against stiff competition. The event takes place over two rounds - a time trial on a track with increasingly difficult turns, and a final in which teams race it out to become victors.
APOGEE Innovation Challenge
The APOGEE Innovation Challenge offers students a chance to work on real life problems faced by a company. Students can form teams of up to three and select problem statements from a list provided. Every team will be provided with up to thirty days to come up with a solution. Judges from the various companies will then select the top five teams. The prizes for the winners include monetary rewards and internships.
Startup Weekend is a network-centric hackathon wherein participants transform their ideas into a Minimum Viable Product. The event is organised by TechStars and backed by Google For Entrepreneurs, with a global coverage of over 150 countries with chapters in over 1800 cities. Mentors are also available to aid on an assigned day. The built product is presented to a jury on the last day of the event. Perks and awards include $300 in credit from Google Cloud Platform to build mobile and web apps, a free dot (co) domain, and access to community benefits and discounts.
Mechanix is a competition where participants are supposed to innovate and provide a new approach for a mechanism. The primary goal is to build a device using only mechanical and hydraulic components. Teams can consist of three to five members. There are three rounds - an online quiz, a virtual CAD solution for the problem statement, and a final round where the selected teams must fabricate the mechanism from scratch using the provided inventory.
IStrike features programmed robots in an intense battle against the clock. Contestants are required to locate an optimal route through a maze by employing image processing algorithms in an overhead camera. They must successfully navigate a robot through this course and avoid any obstacles or roadblocks that it encounters. The maze has been designed to test the robot's reactions to potential obstacles and its ability to distinguish between real and artificial barriers in color coded regions.
In an exciting intersection of engineering fundamentals and design, participants will be made to apply theoretical flight models to create a remote-controlled hovercraft that can handle up to two hundred grams. The prototype will then be tested in a competition with other crafts on a track designed to test fundamental functionality. The first to overcome the pre-designed obstacles and finish the course will be deemed victorious.
Reverse Engineering or "discovery through analysis", is widely gaining traction as an indispensable tool in today's market. The technique is often adopted by organizations to develop new products, improve existing products, and study the technology of competitors and market leaders.
In the competition, participants will have to prove their understanding of fundamental engineering concepts such as analytical reasoning and deduction. They must study existing products in the market and devise competing models.
International Coding League
'Talk is Cheap. Show me the code' - Linus Torvalds
The International Coding League, hosted by BITS-ACM challenges participants in the art of competitive coding. Students will be competing against the best minds in the country in a programming challenge designed along the lines of the ACM-ICPC. Efficient, succinct, and innovative code will be required to succeed.
Stock Market Simulation
Investment is largely seen as the best way to grow money, with the global stock markets accounting for $69 trillion of the world's $294 trillion financial assets. It is only natural for one to wonder how the stock market functions. Stock Market Simulation-a collaborative effort of the Economics and Finance Association and BITS-ACM-attempts to do just that, with not only a mock stock market but also live news updates and an app-based bidding system.
Dual Mode Vehicle Challenge
Ever since the inception of motorized vehicles, man has dreamed of a vehicle that can traverse all terrains. This APOGEE, that dream can be achieved in the Dual Mode Vehicle Challenge, where teams must build a remote-controlled vehicle that can navigate both land and sea without human intervention. The event consists of a preliminary round where the vehicles' "all-terrain" capabilities will be tested, followed by a final round where the vehicle must complete two laps of a given circuit in the shortest possible time.
In RAW, participants prove their mettle through fierce remote-controlled booths utilising various attacking tools such as cutters, flippers, lifting devices, etc. During the event, two bots fight in an arena and the bot which knocks out the other bot is declared the winner. Apart from knocking the bot out, it should also be aggressive, have good control, and strategy as all these factors will be considered while making the points for the team.
Indian Drone Racing League (IDRL)
Indian Drone Racing League, conducted by 1 Martian Way Corp, is the biggest of its kind in India. This event is currently in its second year. IDRL involves a league of pro and amateur FPV-drone-pilots. This exhibition cum kernel event is expected to draw a lot of viewership this APOGEE.
Robot Soccer provides a platform for students to present their solutions. Each team is required to design, construct and operate a prototype meeting the requirements of the problem statement. The students may choose to construct a team that is just one device or a team with multiple devices that are remotely controlled and must fit in a specified box provided by their team. The competition will have a multi-game group stage followed by a semi-final and final round for the top teams.
Don't miss this chance to attend these events!!!
Attractions of APOGEE 2018 (BITS Pilani Techfest)
