AXIS – V.N.I.T., Nagpur
AXIS is a national-level technical festival held at the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology in Nagpur, India. One of the largest technical festivals in India, the festival is organized annually at the end of September. The Two day technical fete is an entirely student-organized fest aimed at showcasing the technical prowess of VNIT and to act as a window for today’s youth to be on par with the latest technological innovations.
Origin and growth
AXIS made its humble beginning under the name ODYSSEY that was launched, under the aegis of Principal – M.U.Deshpande, on a national level in the year 1999 - 00, when V.N.I.T was still known as V.R.C.E (Visvesvaraya Regional College of Engineering). ODYSSEY included events like On the Spot Designing Contest, Management Workshops, software and hardware development events, events addressing industry related problems and most importantly Udyog – the trade exhibition initiated to promote and nurture fruitful interaction between the institute and the industrial sector.
It was in the year 2003 - 04, that Odyssey was given a profound face-lift, when it was integrated with another technical festival – the IEEE Expressions, and re-christened as AXIS. Since then it has gone on to become the largest technical festival in central India with a combined participation of more than 3,000 participants from all over India and a combined budget of about Rs.2.5 million (as of 2009).
Event Organisation
AXIS is completely organised by the students of VNIT. The managers can be broadly categorized into two sections—the Core Committee Members and the Individual Event Managers. The events managers deal with the organisation of all the competitions, exhibitions, lectures and workshops, during the festival, while the Core Committee handles accounts, infrastructure, marketing, hospitality, publicity and media.
Events
AXIS encompasses a wide variety of events that are further graded at several levels targeted at the varied interests of attending participants comprising visiting professors, students, industry experts, delegates from peer educational institutions, and the general public. The cornucopia of events undertaken during AXIS can be classified as under
Competitions
Competitions can further be divided under four main heads
Automation and Robotics
Gone are the days when, every minute detail of a process had to be handled manually. In this twenty first century, robots – both manually controlled as well as autonomous have replaced man in every sphere of life, and we as future engineers will not be left behind in this wave of revolution. AXIS organises a series of events requiring the participant to be well informed about the field of Automation.
Robotics
Robot, basically, is derived from the word “robota” which is a Czech word, it means forced labour and if we consider artificial intelligence then the definition comes out “Forced through Intelligence”. But robotics is something anyone can describe in their own words, depending upon their own needs. So, different minds different definitions!
Mechatryst
The whirr of a race car engine quickens the pulse of any mechanical engineer, and mechatryst caters to their caprices. In this event the contestants are required to build a race car working on a miniature IC engine. The race track will feature obstacles, hairpin turns and steep slopes, and the participants will have to battle it out against each other in the race to the finish line.
Robowars
The God of all robotic events, self-designed battle robots are pitted against each other in an enclosed battle arena. With an impartial set of rules governing the face-off, the keenly contested battles add to the glam quotient of the festival.
Techno.docx
This is a paper presentation competition where participants are required to submit their presentation on any unique innovation or research theory based on any field related to day-to-day life.
Contraption
This event was inspired by the technical brilliance exhibited by Tom in his quest to capture his nemesis Jerry. His ingeniously designed traps would involve a series of instruments and appliances which would convert one form of energy to other, finally resulting in triggering the mouse trap at the precise moment. In keeping with the fundamentals of science, Contraption requires participants to think along similar lines, and although not setting traps, expects them to maximise the number of possible energy conversions.
Construction, Design and Safety
These set of events test the participants' dexterity in the disciplines of Architecture and Planning, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering and Mining Engineering & Safety. These have Immense scope in an emerging India where novelty in design and stability of structure reign supreme given the scarcity and sustainability of resources.
The competitions under this category are
Crepido
The objective of this is to test who can design and construct the most efficient bridge adhering to a given set of specifications. Model bridges are intended to be simplified versions of real-world bridges that are designed to accept a load in any position and permit the load to get distributed across the entire bridge.
Devise
With only 4% Indians living in architecturally designed homes, there was a compelling need to radically change the way we live. This contest lets enthusiastic architects compete in what they do best - Design. The participants are required to come up with their own structure - subtle, sophisticated and most importantly safe. Judged by some of the best known names in the city, this is the event to see and be seen.
Paradeigma
Optimizing the life-span of resources is the need of the hour and this event where participants have to come up with a functional prototype of a product using nothing but junk is Innovation, Practicability and Handsomeness at its best.
Pascal trouble
This event is based on simple application of hydraulics using elementary things like syringes, plastic capillaries etc. The participants are required to develop a system which uses hydraulics and performs some given tasks. This event is a test of their understanding of hydraulics, which plays a vital role in the operation of numerous machines.
Techno.docx
This is a paper presentation competition where participants are required to submit their presentation on any unique innovation or research theory based on any field related to day-to-day life.
Turboflux
This event requires the participants to generate maximum hydroelectricity from a stationary fluid, wherein they will have to create a pipeline system, and with the help of a few pumps, pump the fluid to a simple self-made turbine that converts this energy into electricity .
Software and Electronics
In this era of computers - programming, coding and decoding is the way of life and we as technocrats need to at the pinnacle of our software skills to be a part of the revolution. These set of competitions will test the contestants to the hilt and only the smartest and the shrewdest shall emerge victorious.
The events under this section include
Crypt-O-Crux
This brings along with it a whole pack of puzzling encryptions, and one needs to have just the right perception of a mystery-solver to decrypt them. The event consists of two rounds, each having diverse questions dealing with jumbled up data that need to be resolved.
Insomnia
As the name suggests, the problem statements for this novel event are released overnight, so that the avid programmers can burn the midnight oil to do what they simply adore doing.
Autobot
The name is self-explanatory. Create an autonomous robot that should be designed in such a way that it should be able to move around the entire track, overcoming all possible obstruction in its path without any kind help or human intervention.
Techverve
Animation, as a powerful tool, can be used to depict the various shades of life quite effectively. We at Techverve aim to achieve an eloquent blend of creativity with technology. Ideate Innovate Animate! These three words sum it all!
Techno.docx
This is a paper presentation competition where participants are required to submit their presentation on any unique innovation or research theory based on any field related to day-to-day life.
Das-Labyrinth
Quick and effective data transfer is at the core of all business processes today, and Das-labyrinth tests the contestants’ networking skills and whether they are competent enough to decipher their way past the complex networks.
Management and Other events
What is the point in being just technically innovative without possessing the managerial skills to implement your ideas. AXIS tries to achieve all round development of an engineer through the gamut of management events as under
Who’s the Boss
It's a comprehensive test of the participants' acumen to manage any business venture and tests their HR, Executive Decision Making, Financial & Social Skills and whatever it takes to make the profits soar. Another favourite among the students, it digresses from hard-core engineering, thereby allowing a broader spectrum of students to take part.
Wallstreet
As the name suggests - A mock stock exchange that tests the ‘stock- broker’ in you driving you to employ the best of your wits, so as to rake in a fortune.
221B Baker Street
Inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic creation, the Baker Street quiz has always been the most awaited and highly anticipated online event amongst the collegians. This quiz has fetched participants even from overseas. With the best quizzers in the business taking their shot at some wittily convoluted questions, this event promises to keep the Sherlock in you awake all through the night.
Informals
The hackneyed phrase, “All work and no play……” is very familiar to all of us. Axis does not intend on making Jacks of its 5000 participants. The Informals section will be a lounge area with a plethora of events and fun moments, and will essentially be the coolest place to ‘Chillax’ at AXIS 2012.
Game of Life
The Game of Life is a group action based game in your action affects the others. A highly interactive (online and offline) computer based game in which you have to form groups, discuss strategy and use them in real time to be among the best and eventually win. Use your resources to build your Empire; be it Political, Corporate or Mafia.
Freak-O-Matix
Every forthcoming event or moment is simply a random chance. Thanks to probability, we can at least predict the possible outcomes. So friends, we would take you into a journey, wherein you would experience not just MATHS, but REALITY. As you crack the mindboggling puzzles and problems, you will unravel the many mysteries of LIFE.
Green Innovation
Your challenge is to design a scaled, proof of concept prototype for rain energy conversion. Your prototype device will propel a model, say a car but not necessarily, as far as possible in a straight line by converting the potential energy of given amount of water at certain height. All water must be contained within the device and a penalty will be assessed for any water spilled.
GameSutra
Counter Strike, FIFA, NFS, Defense of the Ancients. Need we say anything more?
Junior Scientist
Junior Scientist is one of the major initiatives of VNIT to identify and promote young talent. It aims to provide a platform to young students to polish their skills and learn new ones.
Junior Scientist comprises four events:
- M.U.N. ( Model United Nations)
- Quiz - QWIEDZA
- Model making competition - Modell-o-mania
- Catapult wars – CATAPULTIKON
Students of classes 8th to 12th attend this event in large numbers across the Central India.
Workshops
Workshops are an integral part of AXIS. They play a major role in achieving our primary objective of giving the students an edge over the rest by familiarising them with the latest technological developments. Over the years AXIS has arranged a large number of workshops, covering a plethora of topics. Some of the highlights are Ethical Hacking, Ornithopter, Android App Development (Clowd Ganga), Swarm Robotics (Technophilia) and The Mentalist Files (Arvind Jayashankar) to name a few. Workshops have always attracted great participation and have proved to be very popular during AXIS.
Hoch'wings - the RC plane workshop
BOT Sumo - the Autonomous Robotics workshop
Loophole - the Ethical Hacking & Cyber Forensics workshop
Guest Lectures
“Every Generation Needs A New Revolution”. Inspired by these words of Thomas Jefferson, AXIS has organised many Guest Lectures and Expert Talks, so as to provide the students an opportunity to get acquainted about the nuances of science and technology from renowned research scientists. The discussions that follow with the Guest lecturer helps the students to clarify certain misconceptions, thereby enabling them to redefine their thinking and channelise their enthusiasm in the subject in the right direction.
Miscellaneous
Laser Show: The laser show was the limelight of AXIS 2010. Organised in the auditorium of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, the sizzling laser show was witnessed by hundreds of people from all over the Nagpur and was a huge success. In 2010, the students had a new guest lecture series under TED which is referred to as "TEDxVNIT" and also an environmentally aware initiative called "GO GREEN".
See also
- Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology
- Aarohi