It's April fool's day ....

Amidst loads of hassles and chaos due to uninformed visit of GM's top official, April fool's day fetched us many preys for entertainment, with Taru and Neha leading the row with Mr. and Ms. Popat award. The plan was incubated at the Hall 8 mess during lunch time while I was having food with Shubham. We had been thinking of some nice idea to play a prank on someone. When we were entering the mess I came across Ashwini Shukla. I had found my prey. Shubham suggested me to call Neha, and propose her. Since she didn't have my phone number so it should work out easily. I was little uncertain of the success of the plan... "proposing a girl ... although fake.. still first time in my life I was bound to stammer and fail." We even wrote a script for carrying out the entire series of events. Finally I gathered some courage and called her :

"Hello Neha... my name is Ashwini Shukla. I am a 4th year UG in the Mech Deptt and am planning to start my own firm and would like you to design the website for the same. I saw you a couple of times at CC canteen and got your no. from Rahul Verma. Could we meet at 6 in the CR."And fortunately she agreed in the first attempt.

Our evilness turned darker by the evening and we began making more wicked plans. We needed some girl who could fake Neha and call Ashwini to the CR. We approached Ruchira Ma'am and she agreed but 'Shubham didn't have the script ready by then'. Meanwhile Akanksha had arrived in the lab and gladly joined the gang. I confirmed Shukla's phone no. from Saket and called him from my mobile but he didn't pick the phone. While we were still planning what next... there was call on my phone from the same number. Akanksha picked up the phone. The plan was that she would say that she was a student from MNNIT who wanted to participate in Robocon and needed his guidance. She picked up the phone , "Hello , may I talk to Ashwini Shukla." On realizing that the voice on the other side was feminine she asked "Who is this?". "This is Neha. Is it Ashwini's phone number ?" I immediately realised that I had called up the last dialled number, that was Neha's and not Shukla's. What a popat were we making of ourselves; picking up Neha's call and a girl asking her for Shukla leaving no reason for her to trust us.

2-3 more attempts but Shukla didn't pick the phone. It was already 5 and we didn't have much time now. So we started thinking of some alternative target. But who could beat the mastermind Shubham who had already fooled 3 people in the meantime. He called up his Mom saying that he had finally found a girl and he wanted to introduce her to them at an upcoming family function at his uncle's. Surbhi was in the lab for a while and even she was not spared, "You know Vyas Sir has become the director of IIT Indore " :D He didn't stop at that. He wanted a double cross; when Ruchira Ma'am would call up Ashwini it should be someone else on the other side and she would herself be fooled.



We were browsing through our gtalk lists and came across Taru - the perfect choice. Akanksha made up a nice storyline , "Hello I am from Kanpur Institiute Of Technology. Our group is working on a solar heater project and Kadambi Sir wanted us to meet you. Could we meet at CR and could you share some of your notes and works". Poor Taru in his usual squeezing voice agreed to all her conditions (I could imagine him sitting on his chair and pressing the space bar for pausing the media player). It was 5.55 and we were planning to leave when Vyas Sir entered the lab saying, "Mr. Mangalgiri is in campus and would be here in 10 minutes." What the hell... we felt so cheated, while trying our best to somehow delay his visit but nothing seemed to work that day. Finally I somehow convinced Neha to come over to the CC canteen while Taru was still unreachable. While we were moving out to CC canteen Vyas Sir informed us that we would have to go and meet him in the VH itself so we were relaxed but it was little late as Neha might have already left. I again called her up and asked her to be at CR itself.

We moved towards the shop-C where Taru was sitting under the tree waiting for his lady. The sight was amazing. He had a big diary in his hand probably containing all his btp work to be sacrificed for a KIT girl. We went inside making him comfortable and at the same time pulling his leg. His usual stupid principles didn't take a break even here, "Yaar sabse buri baat ye hai ki log time dete hain aur late aate hain. Main 4 baar phone kar chuka huun but no kar de rahi hai." I was literally feeling sorry for him but could not stop recording all this conversation on my phone. "So, Taru whats her name," asked someone. "She didn't tell that and neither did I ask." And still this gentleman was waiting there well dressed up waiting to pour out all his knowledge. If only we had a little more time..... the story could have continued for some more time. I asked him to watch a video in the meantime which was nothing but the Akanksha's call video. He almost went dumb for a minute and then says, "Ab CR aa hi gaye hain to kuchh khila do." But we had to proceed to CC canteen to claim another treat. I called up Neha and this time some guy picks up the phone and spoke rather rudely as to who I was and why I was looking for her. I called on her cell back and assured that I am not fake and I was serious about the project to which she blindly agreed. While heading towards the lab a profile video was made on the Taru and the gang behind these activities. Shubham's description of his role in the story was worth noting, "Main sabse chaapu huun...saari achhi planning karta huun, tum log tel machate ho fir main usko wipe out karta huun".

Neha was waiting on a table behind the TMRS lab. Shubham jumped to ask her what was she doing there. "I was actually waiting for someone," with no clue to who the caller was and what was the name of the company she was making the website for. I tried to instigate some talks regarding Shukla but probably her enthusiasm about the first project of her life didn't let her stop.

Shubham :"So koi bhi ladka tumhe kahega ki kaam hai aa jao to chali jaogi".
Neha: "Mech mein main sab ladkon ko jaanti huun..ccc mein sabko dekha hai."
Shubham: "Rahul ko apna no. kyon diya?"
Akanksha :"Agar Vyas Sir peechhe se aa jayein to teeno ka jayega."

Praneeth who was supposed to be at the lab to hand me the bluetooth mobile for demo was already in the lab and was bugging me on the phone. So we decided to uncover the mystery fast. Once again, we showed her the call video and got our shares of abuses immediately.

Shubham: "Btw wo banda kaun tha jisne Deo ko jhaada tha ?"
Neha : "To wo tum the jisne phone kiya tha... you dog .. agar maine pehle tumhari awaaz phone pe suni hoti to galti na karti ... arey wo to cross connection tha."

We apologised to the victims and proceeded for mission lab's mission now, when Neha snatched away Shubham's phone. Shukla after seeing my missed call, called back on my phone. Shubham not having switched to the work mode yet, cooked up a nice censored story to him on the phone.

Now it was Praneeth's turn who was walking with us towards the VH. He overheard our conversation regarding Neha making the company's website and got curious, "Which company which website... you registered your company or what". Why should we let him slip when he wants to drown himself. We cooked up a nice story that Shubham's Dad has loads of contacts and he has got us a company registered dealing in embedded systems. A website has also been registered for the same. "You didn't even inform me. What is this ? ...bla bla..bla", the whining continued till we had reached our destination.

The movie was yet not over and some anti-climax was still in store for us. We reached the VH at 6.45 only to realise that his room was locked. After waiting for 15 minutes I called up Sir and the much awaited typhoon was there. I tried to calm him down. Then we went to pick Dr. Mangalgiri from the "Artist in Residence" show. We brought him to the lab at 9 pm where our presentations lasted till 11.30 pm. Next morning we got the 2nd part of the blow from Sir when the single wheel test rig was not working. "3 din se bol rakha hai...ready kyn nahi hua. hasi mazaak chal raha tha kya !!" Somehow RSS and Ruchira Ma'am managed the situation and showed him some working VI.

A day full of pranks and an evening of nightmares.. deadly combination !!

Steve Jobs at IITK !!

While I was busy working in my corner at TMRS lab at 11.30 pm yesterday, Shantanu enters the room and asks me for Nikhil Padhye's phone number.... why?
"He needs to welcome Mr.Steve who is coming tomorrow at 11 am".
"Who.. Steve Buckner ?? " said I.
"Nahi yaar ... I am forgetting his name...Steve...mmmm"
"Steve Jobs to nahi??", giggled we.
"Haan Steve Jobs".
"STEVE JOBS???? are you sure you are awake and its him?"
"Haan bhai Steve Jobs"
"Steve Jobs ...Apple wala?"
"Nahi nahi... IITK ka first mechanical deptt HOD"
Ahh... we took a deep sigh of relief while our heart beat count was already 5 count up.
Then he recalled its not Steve Jobs but Vijay Kumar Stokes who was coming to IITK and was visiting our lab.
Next morning we met the 70 year old young man who still had the spark of IITK alive in him. While Shantanu demonstrated him his classic nanosatellite ppt, we had some great conversations with him. First thing he stated was that he needed the most intelligent person in the lab to remind him at 1 o'clock to meet the director. No sooner had Shantanu started than he interrupted him, asking why is it called nanosatellite. He explained to him the standards for nomenclature and that the name has nothing to do witjh nanotechnology. This was followed by a small dicussion on the use of word nano and micro today. This time Amrit Sagar said like we have Tata NANO, we have a nanosatellite. "No, its not the same. Nano is the name of the car and not the category. You can name yourself Micro Srivastava but you can not categorise yourself as micro organism".
Very soon he was bored with the lengthy and irrelevant presentation and guided Shantanu on making the presentation precise as per the audience. He even went on to mark him fail on the poor quality of indentation and text justification. He said that one should first build the story that is to be narrated then add the relevant content into the presentation. If someone asks you the way to railway station, one should not go on telling him how to catch auto and where to get down and how to pay the driver. Too much of irrelevant details may make the audience miss the flow of talk.
In the middle he pointed out asking if the spelling of "Ahamadabad" was correct. "You are in IITK right, so at least use the spell check. I can easily make out there is something wrong from the two different sizes of Ahmedabad on the slide. While I was coming I saw three different speelings of students' gymkhana at the same place : Student Gymkhana, Student's Gymkhana and Students' Gymkhana." The next thing he pointed was the fancy style of bulleting and inappropriate eye catchy font which changed from 1 slide to other. He emphasized on quality control of things. He gave an example of marathon athlete; he is most tired at the end of the race but that is the time when he should cross the line with full enthusiasm. Quality should be maintained till the end before the result because it is then when it is going to be exposed to public. If everything was good but quality goes bad at the end due to tiredness all the efforts go in vain. So one should get refreshed just before the end for the show. He asked the team to do extensive testing of the components before launching the satellite.
Shubham feeling sleepy, popped up suddenly, "Sir its 1 o'clock."
"No its not, check your watch".
"Sir, I checked Shantanu's watch."
Amrit said it was 12:58 pm by his watch but it was 6 minutes fast. "How will you make satellite when can not keep your watches up to date". Amrit said, "Sir, but I know the right time now".
He remembered faces of people who met him last time. He remembered Nikhil but faintly. Nikhil promptly said, "The only difference is that I have grown older and you have grown younger". In the mean time Vyas Sir had arrived and we had a small photography session with him.

The IMU_Bluetooth_Phone

The picture shows the final form of the IMU. Finally it was able to display the data received from the IMU on a cellphone screen. The best part being that its the cheapest display with built in bluetooth receiver and java programming platform. The standalone bluetooth module cost around 3600 rupees while the phone just costs 3000 rupees. A four member team from RDSO (including their R & D director ) visited the lab yesterday. I reached the lab at 12 pm exactly 5 minutes before the beginning of the presentation. They were pretty glad to see it. They apparently want it to be used in their railway track inspection vehicle. The existing methodology involves "a few engineers who keep gossiping on the inspection vehicle and as soon as they regiter any jerk they stop to check for crack or defects in the track" Using our device the system can be automated. They rather want a GPS module to be combined with the system and the location of the defect be transmitted directly to their control station.

Regarding the detailed discussion they have invited us to RDSO - hoping for some good deals to improve our country. :) In the evening we packaged the kit in a RP made box of the size of matchbox. The IITK logo on the box looked elegant. We gave it to Sir who took it yesterday night itself for demonstration in some aerospace conference in Bangalore.

The 13th hour !!

Praneeth's and my association with the TMRS lab dates back to the 2nd year summer of 2007. We were looking for some Prof to work under for the summer and one day we see a notice outside the mess, calling mechanical and electrical students with past experience to work on some railway project. Lot of people applied for it including Sankule and Prateek Agarwal. Then there was an interview conducted by Rahul Verma and T.V.K. Gupta Sir in the mission office. Finally four of us were selected. Rahul called us to his room and privately told us that we would be working on ABS and not railway project. It wasn't even 10 days working on it that we came to know that RSS and Jeevan Singh were also in the same project. By the end of two months we finally made a working IMU and a working lab prototype of Anti-lock Braking System for Indian cars. Sir gave us a grand treat. We went to Rave 3 by taxi, had pizza .... then went to Barista and even bought Barista Coffee mugs.

After the sem started we kept visiting the lab to install the ABS on car and soon realised that we would have to make reports after reports. We were pretty disappointed then but RSS kept working. Then came the interesting story:

THE UNMANNED RAILWAY CROSSING PROJECT

Vyas Sir had got a project sanctioned for making an alarm system for unmanned railway crossings in India. RSS got a prototype ready as well. It was nothing but a small metal sensor to be mounted 3 kms from the unmanned crossing with a wireless zigbee transmitter. There was a wireless receiver at the gate end with a powerful audio alarm. RSS had gone home during the Dussehra holidays and I was also in Lucknow. God knows what did Praneeth think and went to the lab one day where people were preparing to welcome the DG, RDSO and demonstrate the project to him. Next morning something went wrong with the circuit and it stopped working. Someone in the lab said that Praneeth was the last person to touch it and he was summoned immediately.

He tried analysing the circuit but not much hope. He called me up. Fortunately I was on my way back to IIT. I was obviously unaware of the urgency of the situation. I reached IIT at 6 in the evening and everything was hot there; someone calling RSS on phone..others convincing Sir . I saw the circuit and cried (dont ask me why). Anyway within half an hour we figured out the detached soldering and fixed it but in the process we had to modify the MCU firmware. The claims were that the circuit had a range of 3 kms. So we were planning to plant external antenna on the module and test it. It was then when the actual hell broke loose. By mistake I touched one of the input wires of the module to 12v and it died :|. That was the only module available which can be got only from Calcutta: I had lost all hopes. Praneeth chatted with their online technical support guide but of no help. Hardly 12 hours were left and the entire blame was to come on me. I cursed myself like hell - first professional presentation and I ruined it. Trivediji and Mohsin Sir were there who kept boosting our moral. If only they could understand the technical catastrophe I had created. We had a tea in the canteen and finally decided that it was useless to hope further with that module. Instead it would be better if we could show him something the next day or at least cook up a nice story. Mohsinji was pretty irritated by that time, "Everything in this lab is done in the 11th HOUR". Suddenly we were reminded that we had used short range zigbee module in the IMU which could be used here. Mohsinji gave us a pair of Zigbee with 700 metres range. I immediately made up a pcb for the circuit and within an hour the alarm began sounding. The good news was told to Sir, though only we knew the consequences. We decided to test the range practically. Trivediji sat with the transmitter at the nursery while we drove with the receiver. It worked till shopping centre - a range of 500 metres. Something was better than nothing. It was already 11 pm by that time. How to improve the range, Ramchanderji started suggesting ideas to put in antenna etc while Praneeth and myself were thinking the same thing: if we could get another zigbee which could be placed in the middle of the transmitter and receiver. It would just act like a dumb hopper which would transmit the data received from transmitter and pass over to receiver on the other side but I literally had no courage to make another pcb for it; which would also require lot of voltage conversion because of different levels of atmega and zigbee.

"What if we just short the RX and TX of a zigbee and power it up?? will it act as a hopper??"
We tried and it worked in the first shot.... wooooow !! Indian jugaad - the ultimate rescuer.
We went out to test the range. This time it worked till Kendriya Vidyalaya - around 1000 metres - cool !! "What if we put another hopper??" :) but we chucked greed and came back to lab.
We all relaxed and went for a peaceful night sleep.


(The picture shows Praneeth with the receiver and on the right is the IMU we made with our very own zigbee :P)

Next day we went to the Kanpur railway station and tested it out. It was giving good enough range. Finally DG came at 9.30 by which time we had played enough with a GPS module and watched a Korean movie on Praneeth's laptop. Vyas Sir, Praneeth and him went by car to the crossing with the receiver while we held the transmitter on the platform. No sooner had the car left than we sent Trivediji with the hopper to the middle of the track. Sir called one of us on cellphone saying " its not sounding...is everything running?" Then he handed the phone to Praneeth. It was ok at my end other than Trivediji's location. I asked him to move further towards them on the track. Within a minute I got call from Sir congratulating us. The DG was very happy. Its not difficult to fool even the most power people in India as far as technical field is concerned, is it ? :D . I forgot to mention that all this time I had my new camera with me. This was just a flavor of the 13th hour cooking; ingredients being common sense and Indian jugaad. They all went home while I stayed back to meet a friend who was passing by on a train.

Recently in August 08, once again we were supposed to demonstrate a derailment detection device to some RDSO officer (because RSS was at home) at a spring factory in Panki and 13th hour work helped again. Its hard to forget the food we had after that in the Orient Resort. It was real fun. Surya had also accompanied us there who was made to write a newspaper report on the entire demonstration.

This is not the end. Even today we are supposed to demonstrate a mobile phone based IMU data plotter through bluetooth. The demonstration is supposed to be given to some RDSO director. Although the basic data is being displayed on Deka's phone but Sir had promised to show him a graph on the phone. Its 5 in the morning and we have absolutely no clue to how is it going to work. Lets see what the thirteenth hour has in store for us this time.

TECHKRITI '09 - Preparation at peak at IITK

ECDC problem statement launched
Amidst the placement tension and market recession, Team-Techkriti remains unaltered - working hard day and night to add various tech flavors to the festival. While our Festival Coordi Deka is personally involved in designing the game software for ECDC problem statement the web team is trying hard to shed off kbs from the webpage to make it easily accessible to one and everyone equally.
After 1 week of dedicated work, Palash has finally succeeded in making the game GUI for ECDC - making it as microcontroller efficient as possible while at the same time making it user friendly for the novices.
Robotics workshop is once again being organised this year though with a close check on the materials and contents this time. Mr.Pradeep from Robosapien has agreed to conduct a 3 day lecture session on AVR based robotics. Although himself new to AVR mcus he is very much enthusiastic and learning it up fast. Visit Techkriti site for further details.

Fountain at Hall-2 Hall Day

This is one of the most beautiful thing I have ever created. Along with 3 of my juniors, I made this running fountain for our Hall day in Feb 07 . We made a circular enclosure 1 feet high using bricks and put a big sheet of plastic over it thus forming a pond like structure 2 metre in diameter. Then we got some aluminium sheet from junk and managed to make a cascade like structure with it - over which water would flow down. C. Rahul who originally planned to make a mermaid (but couldn't due to lack of time) finally made the thermocole fish. Then he decorated the pond with green plants inside our hall. A pump was fitted appropriately to circulate the water and run the fountain. Rahul (Bendre) added some frothing agent into the water 10 minutes before the function started which doubled its beauty.
The entire thing was ready in 2 days and set up at the entrance.
Then came the most amusing part of all - the Maar daala dance performed by Bendre in the pond after the function.