With a never-before-experienced event – an exhibition which teleported the visitors to the world of outstanding technologies – and a conclave with speakers from across the globe, Amalthea 2018 transformed the institute campus into a melting pot of technologies. The annual technical festival saw a huge participation from students and technology enthusiasts across the country.
On the first day, Prof Sudhir K Jain, director, IITGN and Mr Kush Saxena, chief technology officer, Mastercard, inaugurated the event. Speaking at the Conclave, Mr Saxena emphasised that integrating technologies and also integrating people is at the heart of innovation in our times. He said that Mastercard works hard to provide a uniform user experience across a wide range of situations, particularly in terms of the safety, speed and quality of all their transactions. He encouraged students to focus on fundamental issues rather than getting carried away with chasing a current technology trend.
Besides Dr Aloknath De, chief technology officer, Samsung R&D India and Dr K K Narayanan, managing director of Metahelix Life Sciences, the first day of the Conclave also attracted a large number of students to the lecture by Moon Man of India, Dr J N Goswami, chief scientist of Chandrayaan-1 mission. Dr Goswami explained how the work for Indian space programme started from a small hamlet Thumba. He also shared the present status of the Indian space technology with indigenous efforts to develop PSLV and GSLV. He talked about the journey of space exploration by ISRO over the years, with landmark missions like Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission and Chandrayaan-2, which is almost ready to be launched soon. He also emphasised upon the need to be self-reliant and learning from mistakes. Advising the students, Dr Goswami said, “You learn more from others, so meet friends and enjoy doing science.”
Leaders from the solar energy sector in India and abroad shared their expertise at the symposium which saw a constructive exchange of ideas and perspectives on Advancing Solar Power Generation. On the second day, Mr Trishneet Arora, also known as the Mark Zuckerberg of India, CEO, TAC Security Solutions, engaged the students with an interesting talk about the world of dark web. He explained the increasing misuse of cyberspace for invisible scams, including credit card frauds, stealing of personal data, human trafficking and organ dealings, child pornography and terrorism, among others. He also described the legal uses of the dark web by the whistleblowers, military, underground journalists and the government for the larger good. He advised students to turn their weaknesses into strengths like he did.
Mr Sivakumar S, head of industrial design, Royal Enfield, also spoke at the Conclave on the subject of Integrating tradition and technology in design. Explaining the nitty-gritties of design and giving examples of ancient vehicle designs, he emphasised upon the modular-renewable-recyclable (MRM) for designing automobiles. As a concluding remark, he said, “Let’s not just create designs, but create a timeless design by integrating right technologies with traditional value for right needs.”
In the special robotics session, Mr Ashish Deshpande, director of ReNeu Robotics Lab at University of Texas, Austin, explained to the audience about their robotic exoskeletons – Maestro and Harmony – which help people with neurological disorders in moving their body parts freely.
Apart from the technological deliberations with the experts during the two days, Amalthea 2018 also witnessed a rush of technology in the exhibition and various technical events. The interactive exhibition had on display some of the weapons of the Indian Army, 3D printer, humanoid robots, portable solar panel, advanced walking sticks for blind people, drones, virtual
reality equipment, industrial plant setup, and so on. Young brains participated and competed in various exciting technocentric events like drone racing, drift racing, roboquest and electronica, to name a few.
