It's been a dull month for the blog. Yes, I had been busy with my Campus Placement Exams at the start of this month for 20 days. I had been busy with the ordinary exams as well. I was out of station for some days as well.
In our college [
National Institute of Technology, Trichy], for the first time, a mega technical event,
PRAGYAN '05 is being held on the dates of 29-30-31 Jan 2005. The number of events for a start is simply amazing. If you want to have a look at how it is going on, just browse through its
website as soon as possible since the website shall be de-activated for another year. All the departments are conducting their own events irrespective of the number of events per department. Our
Mechanical Engineering department launched the events - Dexter's Laboratory[Assemble/Dis-assemble], Automata[Robotics], D Sign[Design Knowledge].
Dexter's Laboratory :
The Dexters Lab is a unique place where one can prove his/her skills as an engineer. They are given an opportunity to unleash their imagination and reawaken their serendipity (for those whose's dormant) . The entire event is being conducted in three phases (each eliminative)......
A) Troouble shoot : A simple written preliminary round to test their basic engg. knowhows.
B) AESMSLEB (thats ASSEMBLE disassembled) : To check out how dextrous with their hands. A test where they will have to put disassembled stuff back to working order.
C) Junkyard Johnny : The final one where they have to construct something with the junk provided.
D Sign :
This is an event which will tickle the gray cells of a designer and test one's dexterity in the use of CAD packages and creativity. The contest aims to bring out the synergies that exist between these two varied fields.A wonderful opportunity for budding minds to showcase their designing skills and compete with the best brains in the country.
Softwares Provided are AutoCAD 2004 or 2005, Pro Engineer (Wildfire 2), ANSYS 8.0, Inventor Professional 9Team members : A maximum of 2 (per team)
Stage 1 - D Plexus(Elimination Round) :
The stage aims at testing how strong you are with your basics; carries questions oriented towards design concepts. It intends to assess your skills in the field through various approaches.
Stage 2 - D Mach(Beat the Sound):
Winning depends on accuracy, speed and proficiency in using the CAD tools made available to you. Formulate a model for the given problem taking into account the given constraints.
Stage 3 - D Ideas(Confluence of Ideas):
The amateur designers have to try their skill in this test which comprises of finding the best possible solution for the problem cited in accordance with constraints specified.
Automata :
We have to design a vehicle which is remote controlled and has a wired external power source that will find its way through a maze. The robot will have to accomplish the following tasks :
1. Collect a ball placed anywhere in the maze and drop it in a pit placed elsewhere in the track.
2. Find its way out from the maze ,having accomplished the above given task.
3. The dimensions for the maze and track width are given. Also, the dimensions of the robot is pre-defined.
This is how our events are worked out. Now, how the events went? Over 40 colleges participated in the programme. It is a big surprise and the Marketting team has done an excellent job in publicizing the event greatly. The total sponsorship is so high and the total proze money out of it turned out to be Rs. 3,05,000/-. The Main Sponsor is
IBM and the Co-Sponsor is
Hewlett Packard, the other types of sponsors being - Print Media Sponsor is
The Hindu; the event sponsors are
Tata Consultancy Services,
Texas Instruments,
Autodesk,
Cognizant Technology Solutions,
Dell,
Larsen & Tubro,
Microsoft Corporations,
Masibus,
Discreet; the miscellaneous sposnorships include for folders -
Logic Info, for beverages
Pepsi.
