ROBOTICS IS THE FUTURE

T he current academic programme is heavily inclined towards the Engineering discipline and, the Arts and Pure Science streams have taken a back seat in the mind share of most students.
Engineering, which was so long dominated by the IT industry is slowly changing and other courses are also gaining momentum. Across the state there are more than 250 engineering colleges and students are looking at better career options.
Technological advances have given birth to the age of robotics, and the field is luring more youngsters towards it. Papyrusclubs, a Deccan Chronicle initiative rightly anticipated the student psyche and launched a Robotics Training for students in Schools and Colleges. Robotics Orientation Program, a two day seminar for the students of IIT Chennai, was organised as part of the IITM –Saashtra 2008.
The students went through a carefully designed course covering the fundamentals of Robotic Engineering. This two day program focused on the art of building basic, manual and autonomous robots from discrete electronic components.
Building such intelligent and autonomous robots is an ideal way to explore the field of electronics and basics of robotics. Participants were encouraged to apply concepts that they learned in their classrooms, to employ their knowledge in new and interesting ways to create simple yet seemingly complex robots.
The program concluded with a competition in which participants had to build robots and demonstrate their capabilities in a soccer robot event. Certificates were awarded to all participants.
There was an overwhelming response for this program and stu dents from other parts of India too showed interest in the program.
The program validated the initiative of Papyrusclub in delivering knowledge enhancement programs for students.

Light emitting concrete at IIT

Can concrete trans mit or reflect light? Yes, it can and researchers at the civil engineering department of IIT Madras demonstrated it at the Open House 2008 held as part of the institution’s golden jubilee celebrations here on Sunday.
Litracon, the light transmitting concrete developed by them, using cement and optical fibre, was the centre of attraction in the stall set up by the civil engineering department.
“This type of concrete is not only cost effective but will help prevent major mishaps that can occur in street corners,” said Srikant Menon, a B.Tech student, who demonstrated how the light transmitting concrete worked.
This would also reflect the lights of vehicles coming from one direction to caution vehicles approaching from the other end, he added.
The concrete could replace mirrors and reflectors on the roads and also be used for erecting compound walls. The civil engineering department has also developed a quake resistant wall made up of sand packed in folded polymer sheets.
These walls could be used for foundations and basements in areas prone to earthquakes and landslips.
Among the other displays at the Open House were a sophisticated robot that could be used to carry out ISO prescribed tests on cars and another robot that could sense its way around without colliding with any object in its path.
The department of humanities and social sciences entertained the students, from the city schools and colleges, by conducting quizzes, games to test their language skill and poetry reading sessions.
The first ‘Open House’ was conducted 25 years ago to mark the Silver Jubilee celebrations of IIT Madras. This is the second such event and marks the Golden Jubilee of the institute.