Robots, vintage car, bikes and much more at IIT-Bombay's Tech Fest

The 16th edition of three-day Tech Fest kicks off today

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) today kicked off its annual technology extravaganza, Tech Fest of three days.

The first day of the festival saw 24,000 students turning up, and organisers are expecting over 90,000 students this year. "Last year for the three days we had a total footfall of 92,000. We are expecting this year also to see similar or more crowd," said Shrey Singh, Media Manager, Tech Fest 2013. The budget for this year is over Rs 2 crore.

The 16th edition of Tech Fest, also considered to be Asia's largest science and technology festival, like its previous editions showcase the best in robotics. Other than participation from 22,000 colleges across the country, this year the participation of international colleges has also gone up. Around 6-7 countries are participating in Tech Fest. Each country has sent a team of 15-20 students to participate in the International robotic challenge.

This time around the number of international exhibitors have also gone up. Around 50 international exhibitors are participating. On the first day of the festival, students from across the country saw the best in robotics.

Some of these include, Hiro Robot from Japan's Hasegawa labs. The robot that can learn, think and act by itself had created headline last year. Students and robotics enthusiast could see how the robots made tea, and coffee. Keio Xlab also from Japan went a step ahead and showcased a WalkingTree robot. A user collects branches and plants from nature, and attach them to the robot's pot and legs. The toy's walking methods change according to the lengths and the positions of the attached branches. After the WalkingTree is completed, it will move as a standalone robot. When the robot reaches a sunny place, its solar cells charge and the plants will start to photosynthesize. WalkingTree generates electricity by solar energy as if it were a moving plant.

Students from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) college in Switzerland, showcased their multi sensor, light-weight robot that is capable of flying in clustered environment. Mumbai-based Gade Autonomous Systems along with France' Aldebarn Robotics enthralled the crowd with their humanoid. Nao Robot has been designed to mimic the emotional skills of a one-year-old child and is capable of forming bonds with people who treat it kindly. The robot has been developed to use the same types of expressive and behavioural cues that babies use to learn to interact socially and emotionally with others. The robot cost around Rs 15 lakh.

Tech Fest also had some interesting robots being manufactured by Indian firms. Metal Mate, launched its humanoid robot Hovis Eco during the festival. Hovis that cost around Rs 89,000 can act autonomously with the crowd doing various stunts like exercising, dancing, etc. to impress the humans. Hovis can be used for monitoring remote health care.

Other than robots, students queued up patiently to listen to some of the world’s best mind in the field of science. The highlight of the first day was the talk given by Facebook's Director Engineering, Jocelyn Goldfein. She has contributed significantly in Facebook features like News feed, search, questions and more. Goldfein enthralled more than 3,000 students on how Facebook made changes to its News Feed and why did they risk it despite the fact that News Feed is the top most used feature on Facebook in 2010.

But Tech Fest promises to be much more than just a tech show. This time around the institute is showcasing vintage cars and bike. Along with this, Tech Fest is also focusing on the social aspects. IIT-B students have launched an initiative called ‘give-a-coin’. Under this programme, students will financially support a child’s adoption programme.