Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Bhubaneswar: Techfest, the Annual International Science and Technology Festival of IIT Bombay, has expanded its wings to reach out to the East with the preliminary round of its flagship event being organized at NIT Rourkela. Techfest Nexus is the initiative of Techfest tospread the culture of Robotics across the country by providing the students with a regional platform. NIT Rourkela is one of the 5 Centers where Techfest will conduct its prestigious event.

Since its inception in 1998, Techfest has been providing a platform for budding scientists and engineers to showcase their talents. Envisioned as the biggest confluence of stu-dents, academia and the industry, Techfest has also been taking initiatives for address-ing social and environmental cause. Nexus is an initiative taken by Techfest in 2006 for encouraging robotics at the grass root level all over India. With the aim of introducing new technology among the masses, the competition at Nexus 2009 is based on the upcoming field of wireless communication. The task is based on the techniques of grid following and wireless data transfer. The Competition Winners will get a direct entry into the National Finals of A.N.T.Z. – the First Ever Swarm Robotics based Competition in

India. The top three teams of A.N.T.Z. get to represent India at the International GrandFinale of A.N.T.Z., with participation from international teams. Direct Entry to the flagship competition of Techfest 2010, happening from 22nd – 24thJanuary 2010 is whatTechfest provides its Nexus participants with, apart from the Prize money worth INR 10,000!

The Nexus Competition will take place at the esteemed institute of NIT Rourkela onSaturday, 10th October 2009. Students can participate in teams of a maximum of 4 students per team, not necessarily from the same institute. A dedicated workshop by professional faculty will be conducted at NIT Rourkela on 29th and 30th August 2009 for guiding the participants for preparing their robots. Registrations for the event and the workshop have begun on the Techfest website. Please visit www.techfest.org/nexus for more information. The workshop can accommodate only a fixed number of students, hence interested students are requested to register at www.techfest.org/initiatives/nexus/workshop/ at the earliest.

The Techfest Team wishes good luck to the participants of Techfest Nexus 2009. Hope to see you all there and finally at IIT Bombay for the Grand Finals.