Come, meet the masters
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The speakers at IIT Bombay's Techfest include Sam Pitroda and robot-maker Rodney Brooks. Engineering students from the State are invited to take part
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There are people who have made it big in this crazy competitive world, and we are sure that they have a certain hidden secret. Wouldn't it be great if we could just find out what it is? Techfest '06, IIT Bombay's ultimate technological festival, presents the opportunity to find your pot of gold from the people who have already found theirs.
Techfest this year will introduce the biggest name in robotics Rodney Brooks to bright young minds. As Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratories (CSAIL) at MIT, he has contributed a great deal to the field of mobile robotics. Dr. Brooks has built some of the greatest robots around with his Subsumption Architecture. Some of his more famous robot projects are Kismet, Cog and Ghengis. With iRobot, he led the team that built `My Real Baby', and he'll share his profound knowledge.
Techfest has a history of having some very illustrious people famous for their work in varying fields of technology. Some of the great people who have graced the campus, during the fest in the past include A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Kevin `Cyborg' Warwick, K. Kasturirangan (ex-chief, ISRO), Stephen Wolfram (Creator of `Mathematica'), Narayanmurthy, Roger Penrose (long-time co-researcher with Dr. Stephen Hawking), Richard Stallman, media guru Alyque Padamsee.
Also speaking at Techfest this year will be Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Sam Pitroda. He is known to be a technocrat, a social thinker and the father of the telecom revolution in India, besides being an outstanding inventor. Through his efforts, Mr. Pitroda has brought telephones to some of the world's most isolated regions. Along with being a pioneer in telecom, Mr. Pitroda has made strong cases for centralised provision of food, clean water, and adequate shelter for the unprivileged section.
Speaker-man
The name of this next individual has not just been heard by probably everyone in the world, but it has been heard with the most clarity and the best sound! Dr. Amar Bose, Chairman of the Board and Technical Director of the Bose Corporation, will finally reveal the secret behind the world renowned Bose 901 speakers, the pint sized speakers that pack a bigger punch than Muhammad Ali in his heyday! The result of a 12 year study by Dr. Bose, the Bose 901 Speaker System set a new standard for sound quality and promptly received worldwide acclaim.
Expert on farming
Also present to give a lecture will be Mr. Anil Gupta who presently holds the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Chair in Entrepreneurship, IIM Ahmedabad. Mr. Gupta's unique work utilising indigenous knowledge of farmers and pastoralists and building bridges to science-based knowledge has led to the honour of being elected at a young age to India's National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and recognition through the Pew Conservation Scholar Award of $150,000, from University Of Michigan.
With all these amazing individuals and personalities, Techfest '06, scheduled from January 20 to 22, promises to be an enriching experience for all the young engineers of tomorrow. There is an open invitation for the engineering students from the State to be a part of it. Details can be had on www.techfest.org.
R. Ravikanth Reddy
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