TECHFEST - 2007 (26 th - 28 th January)

The science of today is the technology of tomorrow
                                                                        - Edward Teller

Techfest is an annual technology festival, the largest of its kind in Asia , that is organized by IIT each year. It provides a platform for students to come and explore the realms of science and technology. It bring to students competitions that test their skills, lectures from eminent personalities, workshops to hone their talents, exhibitions to see the latest developments, not to forget the fun and festive spirit of a college festival!

Out of the myriad varieties of competitions, my partner, Siddhartha Bagri, and I participated in the ‘Ripples' competition. The competition required us to design and fabricate a boat, from scratch, that could sustain a 1m fall and then win a 13m long race. In addition to this, the launching mechanism had to be designed in such a way that it would enable the boat to move perfectly straight after being launched.

Winston Churchill once said, “ Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm .” We too had to go through a number of failures before we actually got ready to even participate in the competition. At first, we fabricated a boat out of aluminum sheet. After getting it welded and giving it some finishing touches, we realized that it was too heavy for a 3.2cc engine to give it enough push!

We then moved on and designed another speedboat. This time we used another material, very light and flexible, but its advantage turned out to be its biggest disadvantage. As soon as we mounted the engine on it and threw it from a 1m height, the vibrations of the engine tore it apart! However, we kept our cool and started fabricating our third and final boat, five days before the competition, out of wood.

This time the boat turned out to be a masterpiece, but the engine didn't quite like it! The day before the competition, a scratch on its piston was detected, which disrupted its entire working. We had almost lost all hope, when we finally sourced out a powerful motor (15000rpm!) which satisfied our needs.

However, our problems had not reached their pinnacle yet! The night before our competition, when we finally tried out our boat, we realized that it was falling head-on into the water after being launched. After working hard for the entire night, we modified our launching mechanism, and finally got ready for the show.

On the show day, we were lauded for being the youngest and the most power-packed team in TECHFEST-2007. Finally our boat was launched and it started to rush towards the finishing line, surpassing all speed records! However, to our misfortune, just before the finishing line, the boat's battery started burning and thus distorted the weight balance of the boat.

The competition had ended for us, but our zeal to win hadn't. The thought that every dark night is followed by dawn, cheered us up and encouraged us to beat all the young engineering brains of this country next year! Besides the competition, some of the lectures, such as that on Cyborgs (machines that are part human), truly fascinated me. It made me realize how oblivious we are to the new world that is approaching us in the next decade, in which there is a possibility that all we humans could be part-machines! Surprising, isn't it?

In the end, I would like to conclude by thanking my mentor, Mrs. Maiti, who introduced me to this competition and encouraged me to take part in it. In addition, I would also like to thank Mr. Pande, who helped us in making our boat a true “masterpiece”.

Yashraj Khaitan