Points Tally

Let us take a look at the current standings.

Currently, Alaknanda stands first with 164.21 points. Ganga is next with 126 points. Closely following them are Pampa and Narmada with 121.45 points and 121.1 points respectively.

Techsoc Official Calendar

Ensure that you do not miss out on any event.

A Look Back at the Events

Feb 7 – Autonomous Robotics

One of TechSoc’s most popular events, Autonomous Robotics, was held on the 7th of February and saw enthusiastic participation from the hostels. The coding and electronics enthusiasts were in for a treat watching the self-controlled bots perform challenging tasks in a bid to make their respective hostels proud.

The problem statement interestingly had an Interstellar related theme, wherein the bots were supposed to travel through a wormhole near Saturn to figure out which of the planets in the new galaxy were hospitable since Planet Earth was on the verge of dying (by deciphering the binary signals from the brave explorers who were sent there) and then had to face a series of long, complex tasks within a time limit of only 8 minutes. These tasks included line following, going around a spiral, deciphering a binary message and using it to decide the right path, raise flags, etc. 20 points were to be awarded on reaching Mars (finishing the basic arena), 20 points for crossing the spiral and wormhole, 10 points for raising the flag, 10 points for choosing a path and an additional 80 points if the correct path was chosen. After raising the final flag, 30 more points would be awarded.

The event, which took place at SAC, was conducted in two rounds, with only 7 hostels completing the basic arena in 4 minutes to advance to the next and more complex arena. Ultimately it was Sharav which prevailed, bagging 165 points followed by Pampa placing second and winning 75 points and Mahanadi and Jamuna placing third jointly and getting 55 points.

Overall, the event saw a good deal of participation and enthusiasm. It was truly fast paced and full of tension and adrenaline.

Oct 10 – Big Data Analytics Submission

The Big Data Challenge was held for the first time in Techsoc, intending to provide a focus on the most happening and growing field in management, analytics. It involved a lot whole lot of number crunching and required a decent level of analytical skills. This was an online competition and participants were given over 2 weeks to work on the problem statement – categorizing food into cuisines based on the recipe ingredients.

Though this was the first time the event was held, it saw good participation and enthusiasm, paving way for more competitions of the same kind. The results of the event are as follows:

Oct 5 – Big Data Analytics PS Release

Picture yourself strolling through a local market… What do you see? What do you smell? What will you make for dinner tonight?

India’s market is perhaps the most colourful, awash in the rich hues and aromas of dozens of spices: turmeric, star anise, poppy seeds and garam masala as far as the eye can see. Some of our strongest geographic and cultural associations are tied to a region’s local foods. This competition asks you to predict the a dish’s cuisine given a list of its ingredients.

Find the problem statement here. The training data and test data are provided here and here respectively. This is the format in which the solution must be submitted.

Sept 23 & Sept 24 – Data Analytics Basic Session 2

Do turn up for the second session to know more about the vast field of analytics.

Like number crunching? Pride yourself in your networking skills? Then the Analytics Club is for you. The Analytics Club, through projects and workshops, helps students acquire the skills required to extract meaning from data, which can be put to use doing live projects with real-world data in partnership with companies in the field of analytics.

Sept 19 – Reverse Coding

Reverse Coding, Techsoc’s first coding event, was meant to serve as a precursor for the coding events to follow. In this contest, a programmer tries to decipher the source code given the outputs in contrast to obtaining the outputs by writing a program – hence the name, ‘ Reverse Coding ‘.

Reverse Coding

The problem statement was pretty challenging and required knowledge of pattern analysis and algorithms. The event lived up to its reputation of being one of the most popular events in Shaastra, seeing a participation of over 300 students. The results of the events are as follows:

Find the problem statement for the prelims here.

Sept 14 – Data Analytics Basic Session 1

The Techsoc event Big Data Analytics is being conducted for the first time. Hence, the Analytics Club has decided to hold basic sessions to educate the participants. Anyone who is interested in data analytics must turn up for these sessions.

‘Numbers have an important story to tell, they rely on you to give them a clear and convincing voice.’

– Stephen Few

This is what motivates the Analytics Club everyday. They make the data count by turning data into information and generating valuable insights from the information.

Sept 13 – Manual Robotics P.S. Release

This year’s Manual Robotics competition is all set to be a Inter-Hostel Quidditch Tournament. Each team will have to build 2 manual robots, a Chaser and a Beater. The Chaser’s task will be to collect the quaffles and pass them on to the beater who will pass them through hoops. Let us see which hostel wins the Quidditch Cup.

Find the problem statement here.

Sept 12 – Freshie Project X

Techsoc was kickstarted with Freshie Project X. This event was primarily meant to give freshies an insight into the ‘tech’ scenario at IIT Madras. All participants were given a limited number of ice-cream sticks, rubber bands and other household items and asked to build a self-standing kicking mechanism in a duration of 2 hours.

The event focused on the creativity and craftsmanship of the participants but also took the efficiency of the designs into consideration. Each team was given 3 tries to kick a ping-pong ball into a miniature goal post. The large turnout for the event coupled with the enthusiasm shown by the freshies gave a promising start to Techsoc this year. The results of the event are as follows:

Find this year’s problem statement here.