The Terminal
Deepali Sahu

The Terminal, an innovative event that kicked off Technovation, centred on airport construction and management. Participants were made to design and control all that goes on behind the scenes, right from site selection to air traffic regulations. This gave them a unique insight into the intricacies of being a part of a high-end civil project. Their ability to efficiently deliver a premium air travel experience was the objective behind every action taken.

The complexity of the affair was increased by implementing various technical aspects such as budgeting and design. Every attendee was given an inventory and cost-per-passenger cash limit, which they had to adhere to. Moreover, additional asset acquisition costs were to be taken into account as well. These assets would include check-in counters, aero bridges, scanning machines, and the like.

The episode lasted two rounds and hosted eighty participants, almost half of whom proceeded to qualify for the second round. Here, they were tested on their airline management skills, where, unlike in round one, they carried out most of the airport designing.

The ones who came out on top were distinguished by their ability to save funds after the execution of the plan, and the number of passengers they transported seamlessly in the given amount of time.

Warzone
Nida Khan

While the event, Warzone, was metaphorically supposed to encompass a top-hatted, restless world with trenches and ditches, it started off on a calm note. The eleven two member teams seemed tired before the war started, on the 26^th of March, 2017. However, things took a lively turn when the participants were provided with territories of their own to protect.

On a map that manifested rivers, land, and geographical structures, symbols for enemy bases were marked. The colour of the symbols – yellow, red, or black indicated how powerful the enemy was. The participants had to negotiate the obstacles by building structures around their territories. The construction of these structures had to incorporate two important factors- safety and feasibility. While building a bridge would cost more than building a road, the location too was significant because it would be safe only if it was constructed at an unapproachable distance from the enemy bases. The participants huddled with their team mates and strategized viable plans as they used different symbols to indicate bridges, tunnels and roads.

While the event pertained to Civil Engineering, the event head, Ameesha Soni, pointed out its broader significance as she said, “In India, it’s not possible to adopt cutting edge technologies like it’s done in developed countries like the US. We have to focus on fundamental necessities like safety and feasibility instead.”

Pico Power Technology
Shubham Natraj

Pico Power Technology took its participants on a fascinating and educational journey through embedded electronics. The workshop, organized as a part of Technovation, familiarized attendees with micro-controller programming. The gathering was taught the basics of using Atmel AVR Studio to control an ATmega 328P chip. Extremely poor attendance, unfortunately, belied the excellent workshop.

The first day introduced the participants to the basics of the micro-controller and the programming environment. The second day saw the students put on their electronics caps as they uploaded instructions to the 328P from their computers and performed tasks like making an LED blink according to a timer. The final day instructed the attendees on serial communication.

The organizers credited the projects of the ECE Department for giving them the idea of taking the workshop’s topic up. Explaining why they didn’t select a more conventional topic like programming an Arduino, an organizer said “The Arduino chip-sets are a finished product. In those sets, the micro-controller is already taken and supplemented with all the hardware it needs to make it ready to use out of the box, but with the knowledge and understanding of PCB design, people can actually make their own Arduino-like chip.”

The workshop offered a brilliant opportunity to learn electronics from the bottom up. The well-researched content and helpful instructors received positive feedback from its participants.

Labathon
Souptik Kar

Remember those three excruciatingly long hours sitting in one place writing code or sweating it out in the workshop trying to work the lathe or maybe standing under the burning sun with a rod and measuring tape in either hand? Those are just a few examples of the various activities one has to perform in the numerous labs present in MIT.

But that is what IE Civil and AUC set out to change through their event, Labathon. Following standard tradition, the preliminary round of the event was an aptitude test for half an hour requiring the participants to solve IQ questions as well as some audio visual questions.

The selected participants were asked to assemble near the Innovation Centre stairs the following morning to embark on a journey through four different labs of the Civil Department namely the Geology Lab, Structural Lab, Surveying Lab and the Irrigation Lab. In each lab, the contestants were required to solve a task that ranged from constructing a Klinometer to making a siphon that could move water from one glass to another all at once; the ultimate aim being to finish the fastest.

With no lab manuals to write and no preparation required, working in the labs was fun again and the out of the box concept of the event ensured that the participants enjoyed their time and went back to their rooms contented and satisfied.

Megaminds
Garima Singla

Megaminds was a kind of IQ test that tested the general aptitude of the candidate. The event had a total of two rounds with the first one focusing on the student’s mental ability in solving some logic based problems. Apart from this, questions testing the participant’s general knowledge were also asked. “This contest is to test the general aptitude of the student. We’ll be giving them situations and puzzles -we want to see how they come up with the solutions” explained an organiser at the first round of the event.

The second round saw questions from the domain of science. Even though Megaminds received about sixty registrations, only ten showed up for the first round, of which only two managed to advance to the subsequent round. Harsh, an organizer, said, “We are really unhappy with the turnout and expected more people to show up.”

Megaminds wasn’t the usual alpha beta test. A perfect blend of mental ability, science, and general knowledge, the test made the participants scratch their heads. One needed  to be a know-it-all to crack Megaminds.

Laser Wars
Rajat Singh

Who doesn’t love a game of laser tag where you get to zap your friends your pistol skills? Laser Wars, one of the most enjoyable events under Technovation, promised participants a fun filled time.

The matches were loosely based on base centric games where there are two home bases. There are also two different levels for players to try and attack enemy bases. The rooms of AB5, where the event was conducted, proved to be bright enough to keep people from tripping and falling while not being too bright and spoiling the fun of laser tag.

As the teams started gradually trickling in and playing, it was surprising to note Manipal students adhering so closely to the rules. Laser Tag, being fast paced game, created a lively buzz in the room, as teams hurried about in their efforts to shoot their opponents’ infrared-sensitive vests.

The teamwork and bonding within teams was put to the test in the battlefield that was set up for the four days of Laser Wars. The successful event left participants groping for adjectives to describe the fun they had over their multiple visits to the event.

Prokreation
Satya Prasad

“It’s not the beauty of the building you should look at; it is the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time” –David Allan Coe

AUC and the IE- CIVIL conducted Prokreation which was an event under Technovation. Prokreation was an event that tested the logical and tactical ability of the participants, who would participate in pairs. The first round of the two-round event required each team to answer an hour long written test which consisted of questions based on visual reasoning and mathematics.

Ten teams faced off against each other in the first round, of which just four qualified for the second round. The final round saw the teams spend around two hours constructing the tower of popsicles, multiple constraints regarding its specifications being placed on them. The tower was tested for strength by adding weights on it till it collapsed; the team with the strongest tower was declared victorious.

Code Decode
Mrigakshi Sharma

Code Decode was organized as a part of IE Civil and AUC’ s Technovation. The event was initially supposed to have two rounds on two separate days. The highlight of the event was meant to be a rather intriguing segment on deciphering jumbled coding sequence. It was inevitably cut down to just one written round but the participants were very responsibly informed prior to the event. This round consisted of a test the duration of which was a mere thirty minutes. The questions were based on the basics of programming languages like Java, C++ and python. The turnout was reasonable considering the time of the year and the questions covered some of the most integral ideas of coding.

The tact and enthusiasm of the organizers more than made up for the shortcomings of the event itself. It was a great effort on their part and was well received even under the given circumstances.