Nagpur: The Indian Institute of Information and Technology Nagpur (IIITN) hosted its annual technical event, Tantrafiesta, powered by SBI, on September 28 and 29, this year. The event was based on the theme “Conquering the space” inspired by Chandrayaan 2 and by many innovations of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Tantrafiesta successfully started with a great opening ceremony on September 27, 2019 at 4 pm. The Chief Guest of the event was Dr.Dilip Ramkrishna Peshwe who is dean of VNIT and professor for Department of metallurgical and materials Engineering. The director Dr. Omprakash Kakade, Dean Dr. Ashwin Kothari and registrar Dr. Kailash Dakhale were also present. The chief guest was welcomed by Dean, Dr. Kothari, with a sapling and a momento. The program began with the traditional lamp lighting by the dignitaries. Prince Pathak and Ekta Singh hosted the program and described the events to the audience. Further, the Director of IIIT Nagpur expressed his views and said, “Events like Tantrafiesta helps in showcasing the technical knowledge.” He moreover, encouraged students to be innovative, punctual and try giving 100% and also asked the students to actively participate in this event.
The Dean IIIT Nagpur, Dr. Kothari introduced the chief guest to the students and congratulated the complete Tantrafiesta team for the organisation of the event and encouraged students to be energetic and innovative. Further, Dr. Peshwe expressed his views. He encouraged students to perform actively, not only in technical events but also to work for social cause. He encouraged students to pursue social internships and invited the faculty and students to have some collaborative technical work that would lead to a good cause for the society. The commencement of Tantrafiesta was officially made by the Chief Guest and the dignitaries. The program ended with the National Anthem. Some of the events such as IoTWave,an event regarding IoT, and Traverse Action, Event of google search, are conducted right after the opening ceremony.
Day 1 of Tantrafiesta, 28th September, was full with a lot of technical events. It began with Insignia, which is a technical-talk event. This year we had 4 talks out of which 3 were held on 28th September and the fourth one will be held on 29th September. The first talk was delivered by Dr. Shital Chiddarwar, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur at 10 AM. She shared her experience regarding the IVLab at VNIT and shared details of some of the projects done by the students like snake robot, 22 DOF humanoid, sun tracker mobile robot, autonomous drone delivery systems etc. Moreover, she suggested some courses of control systems, computer vision and other topics on coursera and NPTEL. At the end, she was felicitated by Dr. Kirti Dorshetwar.
The second talk was delivered by Jignesh Talasila, Founder and CEO of Loop Reality at 11 AM. He spoke on the topic that can Virtual reality be used for discovering the real human potential. The long tests for the recruitments are not generally preferred by the students. So, games can be used to judge the nature of a person as well as how they react to the situations. He showed some videos of some of his projects like power generation using waterflow in a canal that helped in irrigating the fields and solar vehicles. He suggested the students to have a hands-on experience on the things they learn and explore. Moreover, he suggested that, “Try to learn less and less about more and more before learning more and more about less and less.” At the he was presented with a momento by Dr. Anuradha Singh.
The third talk was by Umesh Thota, Founder and CEO of Authbase Pvt. Ltd. at 4 PM. He spoke on the key ideas of entrepreneurship, ideas to validation and product business management. He suggested the students to have a good team that is quite straightforward and friends that will bring down to ground reality. Moreover, he suggested to have a good mentor. Validation of idea is important and suggested some validation tools. He suggested students to identify their strengths and weaknesses. At the end Dr. Tapan Jain presented him with a momento.
The fourth talk of the event was delivered by Abhay Singh Lodhi on 29th September. He is an Entrepreneur, drone developer and founder, CEO of Om’s Drone Technology. Om’s Drone technology is a startup where new category of drones are made to make our world better. He is a volunteer researcher in NASA since 2016. He Makes Customized drones, drones that track plant growth.He told students that limited resources doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything. He encouraged students to “Work for dreams” and create things which we don’t have and existing things can be one in a unique way which are stepping stones of success. And also told that if we have any idea how to work on it,create a small prototype and bring that into the market.He stated that getting good name in society is way more important than money for entrepreneurs. IIITN CSE HoD,Dr. Pooja Jain Ma’am thanked his presence and words of wisdom with a momento.
Apart from this a large number of technical competitions were held in which students from all over Nagpur and India have participated. The first event held was Karyaneeti which tests your business and marketing skills. 13 participants were selected to pitch their ideas in front of the judges. The event was judged by Ketan Mohitkar and Reeta Lanjewar
Participants were given 5 mins to pitch their ideas and 3 mins for judges QnA.
This event was witnessed by many young, aspiring and enthusiastic entrepreneurs.
4 teams from IIIT Nagpur along with two other teams received Vouchers worth $2000.
Also the judges offered mentorship to some of the participants.
The second event was Contrivance. The participants in the group of 3 to 5 were asked to form a structure that would yield to a desired output. Here, they were provided with some materials using which they were asked to make the ball fall into the cup without any human intervention and in minimum attempts. The points to be awarded also depend on the number of items used by the team which was provided to them. The event was of 3 hours duration and was judged by Dr. Pooja Jain.
Another event was the theme based quiz that was based on the theme of Space. Coddiction, a coding event was held in two stages, the first stage was held on 27th September and the second was held on 28th September. Coddiction is a coding competition that tests your basic as well as advanced coding skills.
The series of competitions were held on the second day also. Electrogiest was an event to judge the circuit building and analysis. The competition was held in two rounds. In total, 14 teams had registered out of which 7 teams qualified for the second second round. The marking was done depending on the circuit diagram, circuit building and its output and the time required for building the circuit.
Weave the web is an event on website designing where participants should make optimised and attractive website. 11 teams have participated in this competition from colleges like RCOEM, CPC and RGCER. Mr. Abhishek Deshpande judged the competition.
The event Rejuvenate was a great success.The event was basically organized to promote innovative inventions of some useful product using basic electronic components and waste material. Altogether, 14 teams participated in this event including teams from Rajiv Gandhi College and YCC. The event went for 90 minutes.The event was judged by Mr. Sandeep Kumar Singh, faculty of VNIT.
Maze Runner is a robotics competition in which the participants had to optimise their robot depending on the arena, which would get tougher with the rounds. Around 6 teams from IIITN and 7 teams from colleges like RCOEM participated in this event.
Graphometry event was based on poster making.This was an online event where participants should design a poster according to the theme ”Tantrafiesta,conquering the space”.There were many active participants who from all over India sent their inspiring posts full of unique thoughts. Around 21 people participated in this competition. The event was judged by Prof. Ganesh Tayde.
Apart from these formal events several fun events were also organized like Harry Potter quiz, paper plane competition, crusade (Treasure hunt). The VR Games were also organized whole day long.
The event ended with a Valedictory ceremony. The chief guest of the Valedictory ceremony was Namratta Tiwari, General Manager, BSNL, guest of honour was Mr. Rajiv Sethia, Global Head of Compensation and Benefits department, Persistent Systems and Mr. Rambhau Taktewale, Chief Manager, SBI VNIT Branch. The director of IIIT Nagpur, Dr. O G Kakde was also present. Namratta Tiwari said that, apply your knowledge to uplift the things. There is no such thing like end. Increasing the tolerance level, gaining knowledge level, debating and discussing the things, let this be part of your life. Even if you have ample resources, use them conservatively. Mr. Rajiv Sethia said that education is not limited to any degree, it is a lifetime journey. Learning is something without which neither you can make progress in career nor in life. He congratulated the organizers. Dr. O G Kakde, director IIIT Nagpur said that this type of event allows us to learn how to use resources optimally. It also provides the institute a visibility. He congratulated the complete Tantrafiesta team for excellent organisation of the event and the winners of various competitions. The winners of our various competitions were felicitated. The program ended with the National Anthem.
The event was possible due to the constant efforts of the complete Tantrafiesta team, the eventheads Aditya Sher and Agnel Lazar Alappat, the General secretaries of the student affairs council Utkarsh Bhiogade and Shrey Jasuja and the constant support of the Director IIITN, Dr. O G Kakde, Dean IIITN, Dr. Ashwin Kothari and Registrar Shri Kailash Dakhale, Student Affairs Council Incharge Dr. Kirti Dorshetwar and Dr. Tapan Jain.
