Techfest 2013: The fun side of technology

Friday, Jan 4, 2013, 13:10 IST

Tasneem Akolawala

@tasneemakol

The Annual Science and Technology Festival of IIT Bombay, Techfest saw an enthusiastic and participating crowd. Here are the exclusive pictures from the first day of the fest

$Crowds were seen standing for hours to get a glimpse of the robots at the internation exhibition held at the KV Grounds in Techfest. The main attractions were: 1. SOINN based HIRO robot: From Hasegawa lab(Tokyo), this robot can think, learn and act by itself using artificial intelligence. This robot remembers basic knowledge and it can apply that knowledge to its immediate situation. The SOINN technology also allows the robot to connect to the internet and other robots for information. 2. XACHIKOMA: It is a cute SUV-sized mobile robot from France. Their design is largely inspired by jumping spiders and they’re very quick on roads as well as uneven terrains. The robot can dance or even write when it has its pen, as it will demonstrate during the exhibition at Techfest 2013. 3. AIRBURR: From France, the design of AirBurr takes inspiration from insects which regularly collide with obstacles and manage to recover. The robot can control its own speed like an insect and can understand the layout of the location by colliding with other objects. 4. One Man One Tree: This art installation from Electronic Shadows, Paris is constructed from 15 kilometers of taut elastic wire meant to emulate a 3-D forest of light. 5. NAO Robo: Aldebaran Robotics, France, the world leader in humanoid robotics are going to exhibit their robots for the first time in India @ Techfest .It is capable of expressing anger, fear, sadness, happiness, excitement and pride. The Nao was used in RoboCup 2008 and 2009, and the NaoV3R was chosen as the platform for the SPL at RoboCup 2010. 6. Quadrotor UAV: Militaries around the world use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs for routine surveillance and to carry out basic attack strategies. One such prototype was seen in the famous movie “3 Idiots”. 7. MIT Media Lab: By Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, NETRA is a project of Camera Culture MIT Media Lab. The system is capable of computing the refractive error for myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism. Till date, NETRA has received many awards like Vodafone America's Foundation Wireless Innovation Project Winner, MIT Global Challenge Award, LAUNCH Health Innovation Award.$

Techfest 2013: The fun side of technology

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