 Robotics highlight of Mechanica
Mechanica, the technical festival of the Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT-M, conducted by the Mechanical Engineering Association is one of the biggest fests in ME. The festival will be inaugurated on March 31 and be on at the IIT-M till April 2, 2006.
S Srinivasa Murthy, HoD, Mehanical Engineering Department, IIT-Madras, said Mechanica, started as a simple one in the year 2002, has grown tremendously to the extent of attracting a footfall of over 2,000 students from in and around Chennai as well as other cities in south India.
Mechanica 2006 has a plethora of sponsors including Larsen and Toubro, Ashok Leyland, GMT, HP, Autodesk, National Instruments and Chennaionline.com as a media sponsor.
With a gamut of gripping contests in its fray, Mechanica promises to be staggering not just in the multitude and magnificence of the events, but also in terms of prize money, said Prof Krishnan Balasubramaniam, vice-president of the Mehanical Engineering Association of IIT-M. This year, Mechanica comes with all vitality and vigour, with a variety of events, ranging from design contests to simulations and from quizzes to contraptions.
With cutting edge events like Imagineering and Overtones coming up, Mechanica 2006 promises to be more challenging and attention-grabbing than ever before, said the students of Mechanical Engineering, Arpan Gupta, Divi Karuna, S Shiva Shankar, Siddharth and
Raghavendra.
A few of the crowd-pulling events of Mechanica 2005 are:
ROBOTICS:
Robotics is one of the forerunners of this festival and retains its position as one of the best in the country. Making a robot which performs specified intricate and meticulous tasks would test any engineer's mettle.
CONTRAPTIONS:
If simplifying is a trend, complicating is an art. This art of making the most complex machine is put to test in this contest. The beauty of the problem lies in performing a simple task like lighting of a candle in the most intriguing manner, maximising the use of mechanisms and forms of energy (for a change!).
PAPER PRESENTATION:
Topics ranging from automobile design to nano-manufacturing were presented last year. The event provides a wonderful platform to showcase the research of budding mechanical engineers. Over a hundred papers were received last year and many more are expected this time.
THE MAIN QUIZ:
"We finish our festival with the grand finale - The Main Quiz. It is one of the most competitive and challenging quizzes looked forward to by many. The questions require a deep understanding of the concepts of mechanical engineering and their
application in everyday life. It has many times ended in nail-biting finishes and the audience land up having great fun," said G Mohan, a student and public relations coordinator of
Mechanica.
This year's edition of Mechanica, to be conducted on April 1 and 2, is expected to conquer higher peaks, with over Rs 2 lakh to be won as prize money, said student coordinators Varun K and Anupam
Pandey.
Aravind S. Baradwaj, head of the Technical Division, Ashok Leyland Ltd, will inaugurate the event on March 31.
R Rangaraj
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