Over its 11 years of its existence Techfest has introduced many initiatives , from MicroMouse to the Full throttle series, and from Scitech to Technoholix each with an aim to bring students closer to science and technology. Some habits are hard to let go and yet again for the first time in the country Techfest 2009 introduces Solor Robotics through its national platform Nexus, This field, though highly popular abroad, is yet to find a place among the Indian students and we hope to begin its trend in the country with “Photoroller”- the solar car racing competition. The competition involves constructing a solar energy powered racer, which can harness the energy to run on a straight track. This initiative would hopefully go a long way in popularizing Solar Robotics in India.

Of the many initiatives that Techfest has taken over the years, Nexus is one of the significant and successful ones which would enter its third year after visiting more than 9 centres spanning the length and breadth of the country. The program includes workshops  followed by the competition at various centers across India. Nexus was conceptualized with the objective of taking robotics to students in different parts of the country. While there are robotic enthusiasts abound in the country, there is no platform in their vicinity to showcase their aptitude and it is this platform that Nexus aims to provide.

This year Nexus will be held at 4 strategic centers covering the length and breadth of the country viz. IIIT - Hyderabad, SGSITS - Indore, Thapar Universtiy  Patiala and IIT Bombay. Each center will serve as a base for our activities to promote robotics in the area and Techfest envisages Nexus to expand to several other centers across India and address a number of other fields over the next few years.

Nexus kicks off on the 23th of August with a two day workshop at IIIT Hyderabad that deals with the basics of building a solar robot. It will provide hands-on knowledge about how to build a solar robot and will ensure that all students participating in the workshop have enough skills and knowledge to compete in Techfest Nexus.

For participating in Nexus as well as the workshops interested students have to form teams of maximum three members and register themselves online. For Nexus outstation students will be provided accommodation at the venue itself. For more information on Techfest and Nexus check http://www.techfest.org/nexus

Hello World!

(I guess it’s our turn to say so :))

It’s been really long since the last post happened on this blog and if you thought nothing went on in the meanwhile you couldn’t be more wrong.

It’s been well over 3 months since the organizing team of Techfest 2009 got together for the first time and set out to put together another edition of TECHFEST. A lot happened over these three months, and we thought perhaps it’s time that we shared some of our thoughts and experiences with others and this is essentially what we hope to achieve through the blog.

So, most of the past quarter of a year went into conceptualizing the events that would happen as a part of Techfest 2009. A few ideas were discussed in the team which would eventually serve our vision for Techfest, some of which were ditched, some sidelined and some taken up. And after hours of discussions and weeks of work, you would see these ideas materialize not before too long.

Techfest 2009, like last year, will carry the spirit of “Save our Planet” in more ways than one and already a beginning has been made with “Energize”. ‘Dream On’ said Team Techfest 2008 and dreamt we have! There are a few other ambitious events planned out besides “Prayaas”, and some of them are sure to surprise you.

This blog is in no way restricted to posts related only to Techfest and if you think you have something that should be put on the Techfest blog, you may mail it to blog@techfest.org. In any case we will be back with more interesting posts and inside stories of Techfest very soon.

Until then, dEfy cOnvention!