SANDHAAN’19: Igniting ideas, Breeding innovation and Generating change

“Excellence is the gradual result of ALWAYS striving to do BETTER”

-Pat Riley

The dawn of 17^th March 2019 was unlike any other as it was the one to witness the beginning of the Annual Tech Fest of B.I.T. Sindri, Dhanbad. This year, the Tech-Fest was to be a joint effort by the four well known technical societies in the campus namely Model Club, Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers(IETE)- Students’ Chapter B.I.T. Sindri, Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE)- Students’ Chapter B.I.T. Sindri, and the DEV-SOCIETY(Coding Club of B.I.T. Sindri). The organizers were ready in their laundered dresses, rehearsing their lines lest they were all attacked by bouts of amnesia, waiting eagerly for the curtain to rise. The participants were equally ready with their bots(robots) and their creations to see if the Tech-Fest meets up to their excitements.

Everyone convened in the Rajendra Prasad Memorial Hall (C-51) for the inaugural session, with Mr Rakesh Kumar, Technical-Director, BCCL, Dhanbad as the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, Dr D.K. Singh promised setting up of an Incubation Center for the students willing to do good in the technical field. Mr Rakesh Kumar, an esteemed alumnus of B.I.T. himself, shared anecdotes about his time in B.I.T. and inspired students to strive hard. ‘I have never given the same examination twice, always try to achieve it in the very first attempt‘, he said. The lamp lighting marked the beginning of the events and the ball was set rolling for the Tech-Fest.

Though the fest was being organized jointly, the game of one-upmanship was on,with each student body trying to portray their event as the USP of fest. How could Model Club, the premier technical club relinquish it’s numero uno position without a proper fight? The stage was set for two days of exhilarating events unlike anyone could have simulated in SANDHAAN’19. 

Day 1:- The first day was all about robots. Participants were ready with their bots for the prelims of various robotics events to begin. The energy could be felt in the air for the events.

• DOA( Dead or Alive)(prelims): The event that each fresher has a different story about, some scary, some fiery and some of course of victory. This year too, the track was designed with obstacles and hurdles all along the way with check points to cross. The participants were given limited revivals too from the last checkpoints. The only bots to cross across the blazing flames of DOA in record time qualified for the finals to be conducted the day after. Participants skills to handle the bots in hurdles and keep it stable were tested.
• KURUKSHETRA(prelims): The most interesting event of robotics and the one that is the centre of attraction, the battle of the bots, KURUKSHETRA. Just as the name suggests, it is surely a war between bots to fight it out in the arena and prove who is the stronger bot. But, do not forget that more than the bot it is the hands on the remote. The cheers for the teams could be heard across the campus. It was surely a delight to witness. ( Well not for a few bots of course who were torn apart). After all, only the strongest survive.
• CarromBot(prelims): Carrom is the favorite of indoor games. This event was the blend of technology, sport and carrom. Combined, we saw remote controlled bots play carrom and score points to climb the leaderboard and reach the finals.
• Maze-Corredor(prelims): It is enthralling to see how a wireless bot can cross a maze by navigating paths and taking turns. It was a great show of innovation and application.
• Da-Vinci Code: An online coding competition to test the skills of coders and to improve their problem-solving skills.
• MATLAB: A circuit simulation competition.
• Aavishkar: A competition to show off your Engineering Drawing skills through software like Autocad and Catia.

With this Model Club wrapped up the events for the first day.

DAY 2:-

After experiencing the magnificent Day 1 of the fest, there was surely a lot of expectations for the second day. Will it be as good as the first? And the answer was No, It was even better. There was a line up of exciting events waiting for the enthusiasts and also something very special in the end. So let’s have a look:

• Scientica: A science quiz for the quizzes. It was really amazing to watch the participants showcase their knowledge and grab the prizes. It had two segments:

Junior Scientica: For students of Various Schools.

Senior Scientica: For students of Various colleges.

• MODEX: A model-making competition where participants were given a chance to showcase their technical and creative skills by building a model of their own. It also had Junior and Senior divisions.
• Techie of the Year(TOY): Exclusively for freshers, it was an event to bring out the technocrats hidden among the crowd. It was a working model-making competition. There were a number of innovative and revolutionary technical models built by college students.

All the models of MODEX and TOY were examined by the Director and professors who sincerely appreciated some of the ideas.

• CEO 3.0(finals): The finals of the competition was held in the Deshpande Auditorium where young CEOs pitched their company’s B-plan and strategies on a common problem statement to get ahead in the market. After all, Engineers are never willing to back off in any field. ( This years problem statement: Online Food delivery)
• Technology to Business (T2B): Another arena for young entrepreneurs and innovators to turn their technical skills into a start-up idea. There were a lot of new ideas that surfaced and hopefully they would reach the proper execution.

Sumit Kumar, (VP Operations at Atal Biharee Vajpayee Innovation Lab, Alumnus IIM Lucknow, Research Assistant at IIM Ahmedabad and Co-Founder of Farmanze Agri Pvt Ltd) was the judge of T2B and also the guest speaker for the event.

• Hydroflight: Just when you thought no more innovation is possible, you could see a missile-shaped bottle fly over your head and guess what? Its fueled by Water. Yes, this event is surely unique as participants had to design their very own missile which would fly when applied hydraulic force through a pump. The higher it flies, the better you score.
• Robo-Seguidor(line follower bot): Another robotics event you would think but this is not the same. The event was for pre-programmed bots who could follow lines without any intervention from its designer.
• The finals for KURUKSHETRA, DOA, CARROMBOT and MAZE-CORREDOR were also held during Day 2.
• Exposito: A technical paper presentation competition.
• Bike Assembling: A competition for all the bike Enthusiasts to fix and assemble parts of a bike in record time.
• Mr./Ms. Engineer: How can the Super seniors be left behind? The event exclusively for the final years of B.I.T. Sindri was to test who was in true sense Mr./Ms. Engineer from the Batch of 2015. Making their way through the bombardment of questions, there could be only one. There were rounds of debate too. Finally, Mr Abhishek Kumar(Metallurgical Engineering, 2015) was awarded the title.

With this, the events for SANDHAAN’19 came to a marvellous end. But, was it over? Not at all. The participants were guided to the Deshpande Auditorium for the final segment of SANDHAAN’19:

The guest lecture and the most awaited, MEGA SHOW.

The guest lecturer was also one of our own gems, Mr Sajid Hussain, (a technocrat, social worker, motivator, revolutionary and an esteemed alumnus of B.I.T.). He enlightened the gathering by his words on revolutionizing education at the root level and how he is totally against using education as a means of a business plan. His words surely were an eye-opener.

Then the lights went off, and all eyes were captured by the light show on stage. It was time for the MEGA SHOW. The Glowdiators Crew performed an amazing dance performance filled with lights and illusions. The show was appreciated immensely and it could be felt by hearing the crowd cheer. With this amazing sight in the hearts, SANDHAAN’19 came to an end.

Kudos to the organizing team and all the participants for making SANDHAAN and Tech-Fest as a whole a grand success.