maharashtra institute of technology the annual screw page 1 … · 2016-08-18 · maharashtra...
TRANSCRIPT
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 1
AXLERATE 2013
Ratan Tata: The Dreamer of Cars -Govindraj Ethiraj*
Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata retired last year to make way for a
younger Cyrus Mistry who will now lead the $100 billion empire. Some
58% of group revenues now come from outside India, in itself a Ratan
Tata legacy, thanks to his dog-
ged focus on creating a global
footprint. Keeping the growth
and profit focus in difficult
times will be a key challenge
for the Tata group in coming
years.
But Tata has been more than a
business leader who multiplied
revenue 20 times in 20 years.
He is also a dreamer who envi-
sioned products that no peer
would dare attempt. His desire
to build the first indigenous Indian car with native engineering skills and
capabilities was a dreamer‘s project. And entrepreneurs and managers
alike would do good to take heed of this facet of Ratan Tata. Particularly
the times in which he pursued his dreams.
If you walked into Bombay House in the early 1990s, you
could not be faulted for comparing the general ambience to that
prevailing in the offices of the Bombay Municipal Corporation
(BMC), Mumbai city‘s imposing neo-gothic civic headquarters
barely a 15 minute walk away.
Time stood still here. Staffers stared blankly at piles of files as
they sat on their desks or scribbled listlessly on paper. A few
that were animated were engaged in evidently non-official con-
versations. Remember this was before
the advent of the ubiquitous desktop
monitor which would afford cover or a
convenient distraction. Even the air
smelt musty.
Truth be told, this was the case not just
in the house of the Tatas but several
leading private sector corporations across India, including
multi-nationals. Real change was still some time away.
It was this world that Ratan Tata stepped into in 1991 after
being anointed successor by the legendary JRD Tata. As it
turned out, his first years were spent grappling more with
JRD‘s trusted aides and satraps who ruled Tata Steel (Russy Mody), In-
dian Hotels Company (Ajit Kerkar) and Tata
Chemicals (Darbari Seth) rather than the brute
forces of economic liberalization.
It was only past the mid 1990s that Tata‘s vi-
sion for the group began to be heard and felt, at
least from the outside. Principal among them
was the need to build environments and corpo-
rations that were globally competitive. Inciden-
tally, this was also around the time that the
group took a hard look at the portfolio of busi-
nesses to see if they fit in the liberalized world. One management consult-
ant even suggested getting rid of Tata Steel, a suggestion that was evi-
dently ignored.
It soon became clear that Ratan Tata wanted to do more than just wake up
a sleeping giant. By the early 1990s, Tata watchers realised that they were
looking at a dreamer whose thoughts went beyond just increasing revenue
and profits. He dreamt, for starters, of an indigenous car that (famously)
―Would have the Maruti Zen‘s size, the Ambassador‘s inter-
nal dimensions, the price of a Maruti 800 and with the run-
ning cost of a diesel.‖ Yes, quite possibly even Tata would
be surprised with these benchmarks today.
Selling it internally must have been a battle. Remember, the
Tata Group was largely an iron & steel, trucks, chemicals,
software services and hotels conglomerate. No products,
almost all services. Even TCS, despite being India‘s largest
software services company, has had no real product to speak
of. Except an early but limited attempt to launch an account-
ing software product. Looking back, to plan building a car in
such an environment must have been intimidating.
Tata‘s desire to build an indigenous car was met with skepti-
cism from outside too, including Dalal Street. The common
refrain those days: Tata Motors (then called Telco) should
stick to trucks. Ratan Tata responded by spending time in the
Tata Motors design studios in Pimpri near Pune and then
subsequently testing the car himself at the captive test track.
He was determined to show that he could bring his dreams to (Continued on page 6)
Evolution of Technology: the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly.
-Cherag Bhagwagar
Today‘s technology is evolving at a rate so mind-blowing, that new developments and awe inspir-
ing details are being produced every day. Its evolving at a rate so massive, nobody can even predict
where we might be 20 years from now, will we develop unlimited clean energy? Time travel? tele-
portation? Who knows! However every new technology has a flipside, like a double edged sword.
It can be used for the betterment of mankind, or can cause unimaginable catastrophes.
NUCLEAR ENERGY AND POWER
Nuclear Power: The good.
Nuclear energy originates from the splitting of uranium atoms in a process called fission. At the
power plant, the fission process is used to generate heat for producing steam, which is used by a
turbine to generate electricity. The global nuclear industry is moving forward at a brisk pace, only
slightly slowed by the Fukushima earthquake accident. The International
Atomic Energy Agency‘s most realistic estimate is that 90 new nuclear
plants will enter service by 2030. Ten new nuclear plants went online over
the past two years. India now envisages increasing the contribution of nu-
clear power to overall electricity generation capacity from 3.2% to 9%
within 25 years. By 2020, India's installed nuclear power generation capacity
will increase to 20,000 MW. India now ranks sixth in
terms of production of nuclear energy, behind the U.S.,
France, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. There are now
439 nuclear reactors in operation around the world in
over 30 countries, providing almost 16% of the world‘s
electricity.
Nuclear Blunders: The bad.
The first thing you have to know is that highly radioac-
tive material isn't just found in heavily fortified power
plants and nuclear missile silos. A lot of the stuff is kind
of just lying around.
For instance, the Instituto Goiano de Radioterapia (IGR)
was a radiotherapy clinic in Goiania, Brazil, that had
relocated to a new facility in the mid-1980s, leaving
behind an abandoned building full of medical equip-
ment. Two scavengers named Roberto dos Santos Alves
and Wagner Mota Pereira saw their opportunity and
swooped in to steal the caesium-137 radiotherapy unit.
They removed the core and smashed it open, finding a
blue glowing substance inside that mystified them. This
was the cesium, and predictably, it poisoned both men,
eventually causing internal damage, contact burns and the need for amputation. Luckily, they were
able to take the exposed core to a scrapyard.
From the scrapyard, things only got worse. No one knew
what the glowing substance was, so no one felt the need
to handle it with anything resembling caution. The junk-
yard owner wanted to make a ring for his wife out of it,
several people smeared it on their bodies like paint and a
6-year-old girl even wound up eating some of it. All
told, 250 people had been contaminated by the exposed
material, four of whom
received fatal doses and
died. The people in
charge of IGR were
charged with criminal
negligence for leaving
the cesium unit essentially unguarded in a derelict building.
Other examples include irradiating golf balls with cobalt-60, so that they could be located by with a
Geiger counter when lost, cosmetic creams and powders laced
with various nuclear substances as they were believed to be
able to kill germs and clothes adorned with nuclear paint that
glowed in the dark.
Nuclear Warfare: The Ugly.
Nuclear tipped weapon heads are employed by the national
defense of many countries. These pose a potentially disastrous
threat, since a single bomb not only kills a large number of
people with a blast radius of around 3 km. Only two nuclear
weapons have been used in the course of warfare, both by
the United States near the end of World War II. On August 6,
1945, a uranium gun-type device (code name "Little Boy")
was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three
days later, on August 9, plutonium implosion-type device
(code name "Fat Man") was detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.
These two bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately
200,000 Japanese people (mostly civilians) from acute injuries
(Continued on page 6)
At 4.2 sq Km, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power
Plant, Japan, was the largest in the world before it was
hit by the July 2007 earthquake.
Nuclear waste being dumped into the river
A 6 year old girl
ended up eating
some of the radio-
active cesium
Tata has multi-
plied his revenue
20 times in 20
years.
The Annual Screw
Nuclear Power
provides 16% of
worlds energy
Little Boy and Fat Man
The Department Of Mechanical Engineering`s Annual Newsletter
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 2
AXLERATE 2013
FROM THE HOD`S
DESK
Every institution needs a driving force to
maintain order and to keep up the standards.
For MIT Pune`s Department of Mechanical
Engineering, this driving force lies in its
Head, Prof. P.B. Joshi. It is with his leader-
ship and vision that MIT Pune`s Mechanical
Department is one of Pune`s most reputed
departments.
Prof. Joshi first came up with the idea of hav-
ing an interactive students TechFest in 1998
called MechWeek. Today it has evolved to a much larger, grander level and
has been rechristened as AXLERATE.
Below is a small message by Prof. P.B. Joshi to the students:
―Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge all the hard work and effort put into
the making of AXLERATE 2013. The students have not left any stone
unturned in taking this event to the next level. This year, apart from the
various technical and non technical events, the students are expanding
their spectrum of operations, including industrial exhibitions, a social
responsibility cause, a departmental newsletter and workshops.
The theme of AXLERATE 2013 is the Evolution of Technology , repre-
senting the way and rate at which technology today is evolving. Keeping
up with the theme, this year’s AXLERATE has evolved to a new level.
AXLERATE 2013 is in partnership with various media groups, compa-
nies and organizations, it has grown from a small gathering of like
minded students to a mega event. The Fest is on a much larger and
grander scale with more and more events, bigger prizes, and more par-
ticipants. I hope this trend keeps on continuing, and the name and repu-
tation of our department keeps shining as such.
The Industrial exhibition is another one of a kind venture taken up by
AXLERATE 2013, where students can actually see and experience the
latest innovations and developments in the current industrial scenario.
Various well reputed companies would be present displaying their ma-
chines, prototypes and models. I hope the students take full advantage
of this rare opportunity to interact with the industry.
I would also like to thank all the sponsors for their assistance, guidance
and mentorship in helping the students out with this event. It is great to
see such companies lending a helping hand to these students.
I personally urge all the students to take part in such events and nurture
and hone their skills. As important as it is to excel inside class, it is
equally important to excel outside class. Taking part in such events
helps in the overall development of a student and hones their knowl-
edge to a more applicative level.
Since each and every significant effort eventually pays off, judging by
the amount of hard work put in by the students and faculty responsible
for AXLERATE 2013, I`m sure its going to be a raving success !”
MIT MECH, ONE DEPARTMENT: MANY FACES
As a whole, The Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the largest departments in the
college. However, this department has divided itself into various committees. These committees
are usually created and managed by the students themselves, with only guidance from the staff.
Each committee and group attracts different students for their different values and experiences.
The sub departments in the Mechanical department are listed below.
SAEINDIA COLLEGIATE BRANCH
SAE is the acronym for the Society of Automobile Engineers. SAE interna-
tional is an organization of over 84000 engineers, educators and associates from over 97 coun-
tries. Founded in 1905, SAE is the leading authority in technical information and expertise used in
designing, building, maintaining and operating land, air and sea vehicles.
The collegiate branch of SAE is in charge of organizing various seminars, guest lectures, indus-
trial visits and workshops. It acts as a direct link between the students and the industry. SAE has a
large number of members within the department. All members benefit from these privileges and
opportunities. Along with this, the members are also entitled to access ARAI`s vast library`s for
any educational or research work.
Another major task of the SAE collegiate branch is the total
organization and conduction of AXLERATE, the departmental
Techfest. This large scale festival is completely organized by
the students with only a guiding hand from the faculty. Students not only realize and hone their
sense of creativity but also understand various elements of management, organizing, accounting
and budgeting.
TEAM AXLERATE 2012
ASME
ASME stands for the Association of Students of Mechanical Engineering, it is a
sister organization of the SAEINDIA collegiate branch. ASME organizes various
guest lectures and seminars. ASME also helps students further by conducting various classes for
competitive exams such as GATE , CAT , TOEFL etc. ASME is a completely independent com-
mittee, run by the students of Mechanical Engineering, for the students of Mechanical Engineer-
ing.
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 3
AXLERATE 2013
TEAM ACCELERACERS
Team Acceleracer`s is a racing team of students who develop formula style race cars. Accel-
eracer`s is a group where imagination, engineering, creativity and team work thrive together.
The team participates in various formula student competitions. The first experience of the
team was Supra SAE India 2011. Initially a team of 24 students, Team Acceleracer`s is now a
union of 50 members from different streams of engineering, who do a continual research and development in
the field of automobiles. The working style of the team is more like that of an organization than a regular col-
lege team. Along with focusing on engi-
neering of the vehicle, the team also helps
students explore their management and
marketing skills.
The last year was a great year for our col-
lege as Team Acccleleracers were awarded
numerous accolades including 1st place in
Engineering Design and 3rd place in Mar-
keting Presentation. High hopes are pinned
on the team to raise the bar to new heights
and come back with more awards this year.
TEAM PIRHANA RACING
Baja SAE is an intercollegiate design competition run by the Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE). The goal in Baja SAE racing is to design, build and race off-road
vehicles that can withstand the harshest elements of rough terrain. Team Piranha
Racing has a history of participating in Baja SAE India from the past four years.
The team has seen some tough years and some memorable ones. 2012 was one of
those memorable years when the team secured 6th position in the endurance race
and 18th rank overall. Even after being 35 minutes down in a 4 hour race and start-
ing the race with 3 laps down, the team covered about 35 laps of that dirt track and
stood 6th. This spirit is still being preserved by the team which is ready to confront
the torture this year also. Making its way through the virtual and technical inspec-
tion ,the team now is ready to combat and conquer the 2013 Baja competition.
ROBOCON TEAM
Robocon is an international robotics contest organised
by the Asian Broadcasting Union. Around 17 coun-
tries from the Asia-Pacific region including China,
Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and many more
participate in this top notch tournament. In the compe-
tition robots compete to complete a task within a set period of time. To build the
robots, contestants, who are restricted to be undergraduate students, must possess
rich knowledge in programming, mechanical design and electronic circuit design.
The MIT Robocon Team are Group of 27 promising engineers from branches
like E&TC, IT, Mechanical, Civil & Petrochem who work systematically for a
year before the competition, planning, designing and building their robot.
The team from MIT Pune have
proved their mettle by beating
China in International Robotics
competition Robocon-12 on
19th August at Hong Kong .
Team India won the Mabuchi
Motor award for over all per-
formance and came home with
their heads held high. But for
these students, the greatest ac-
colade was the respect they
earned for India from the
teams which traditionally are the Giants of Robocon. Since 2005, this is first time
when any Indian Robocon team has competed on international fields with a time
comparable to top-notch teams.
ACCELERACERS WINNING CAR: THE CARBON
MIT Pune, 2012 Robocon Winners
OAT RESEARCH www.oatresearch.org
The Optimization and Agent Technology (OAT) Research is
an international organization founded and being chaired by
Dr. A.J. Kulkarni, an eminent member of our faculty, to
spread and cater the underlying concepts of Optimization and
Agent Technology. Currently, there are over 8 scientists
from the countries such as India, Singapore, Canada, Ger-
many, Thailand, Brazil and Czech Republic along with over 40 elite research students
from Maharashtra Inst. of Technology are actively involved into it.
The organization works towards nurturing and developing the Nature-/Bio-inspired Opti-
mization Algorithms/Methods to solve a variety of problems. The Algorithms could be
(not limited to) Evolutionary Algorithms, Genetic Algorithms, Particle
Swarm Optimization, Ant Colony Optimization, Fire Fly Algorithms, Artificial Neural
Networks, Artificial Immune Systems, Fuzzy Logic, Distributed Optimization technique
such as Probability Collectives, etc. And the potential problems that could be solved may
be of the categories (not limited to) Unconstrained/C`onstrained problems, Continuous/
Discrete/Combinatorial Problems, Multi-Objective/-Criteria Problems, Graph Theoretic
Problems, Complex Problems, etc.
In addition, the OAT Research organization intends to use/modify the above algorithms to
use exploring (not limited to) Topology and Shape Optimization, Collective Intelligence
(COIN), Multi-Agent Systems, Self Healing Systems, Fault Tolerant Systems, Game The-
ory, Nash Equilibrium, Graph Theory, Computational Geometry, etc.
The organization intends to provide the researchers, scientists and students a platform to
form a network, discuss, and consult regarding the above mentioned areas. The organiza-
tion is working on several practical problems and intends to propose new international
journals as well.
The interested and committed researchers, scientists and students may contact the
Chair of the OAT Research to join the organization to be an active part of the en-
deavor.
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 4
AXLERATE 2013
DESIGNER PRO
Creativity Gone Wild.
They say a product, any product, is the outcome of hours and
hours of tedious planning and designing. Here you don‘t
have hours and hours. Just 3. Participants are given 3 hours
to design a certain given figure using either AUTOCAD or
PRO-ENGINEER. Points are awarded on the basis of design
refinement, neatness and time taken to complete the design.
ROBOWARS
Shoot to Thrill. Play to Kill.
This is the future of warfare. Two robots are placed in a pit and
have to battle it out with each other. These mean machines smash,
chop, burn, or slice through their opponents. It‘s a no holds bar
event in which a robot can use anything from a high speed saw to
a laser beam to defeat their enemy. Only one robot
will emerge victor while the other rusts in the junk-
yard. For all you adrenaline
junkies, this is as good as it gets.
Fighting fire with fire and
smashing steel with steel never
looked so good.
RALLYMANIA
If you’re not fast.
You’re last.
One of AXLERATE
`s most crowd pull-
ing events, Partici-
pants must build and
race a remote controlled rally car around a certain track. The track has a
number of twists, turns and obstacles. The vehicle must drive through
sharp turns, tunnels and jump over ramps. The vehicle with the
fastest lap is declared the winner. The competition is divided into
2 rounds, the first one being a time trial, and the final round is a
head on race.
With the finals
held usually at
night in the flood-
lit ground, this
event is definitely
one worth staying
up for! Gentle-
men, start your
engines!
PREZENTA
Broadcast your Ideas.
This is an event in which good orators must take part in. Participants are
given a certain topic on which they must create a slideshow and present
their ideas in front of jury. The topics will be divided into two nodes,
mechanical, i.e. pertaining only to mechanical based topics, and multid-
isciplinary, i.e., pertaining to anything else under the sun . So carry your
wits with you and leave your stage fright where it belongs. At home.
FUNZONE
Let the games Begin!!
What‘s the point of all work if there‘s no play? At the
Funzone, participants can take part in a number of fun
games and activities. There‘s laser tag and counter-
strike, there‘s box soccer and Fifa, there`s catapult and
cricket. So take your pick and have a blast!!
AXLOGRAPHY
Say Cheese !
What‘s a great event without a few great photo-
graphs ! So instead of us taking the pictures, we`ve
decided it`s you who`ll do it. Participants have to click
pictures during the event, the winner of the event is
the person with the best picture. So wipe your lenses
and charge your flashes, its ShowTime!
AXLERATE 2013 EVENT SCHEDULE
EVENT DATE TIME VENUE
Rally mania 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Robotica 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Robowars 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Reincarnation 22nd Feb 10:00 AM M 301
Inquizzzitive 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Dyaneshwar Hall
Designer Pro (AUTOCAD) 23rd Feb 9:00 AM Comp Lab
Designer Pro (PRO-E) 22nd Feb 9:00 AM Cad Cam Lab
Mind Your Own Business 22nd and 23rd Feb 9:00 AM A1 Placement Hall
Mock Stock 22nd Feb 1:00 PM A1 Placement Hall
Ideate 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Comp Lab
Prezenta 22nd Feb 90:00 AM M 404 & M 405
Crypto crux 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Comp Lab
Axlography 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Campus
Fun Zone 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 5
AXLERATE 2013
InQuizZitive
So You Think Your smart?
For all those know-it-all`s out there, AXLERATE
gives you a chance to prove your mettle. Take part
in the quiz which will test your knowledge on a
wide spectrum of subjects, ranging from history to
current affairs.
ROBOTICA
Rise of The Machines.
Participants must design and build a DC powered robot that is able to pro-
tect its arena from being exploded. Two robots will be placed in a spe-
cially designed arena; each robot must pick up a bomb and place it in the
rival team‘s detonation zone to win. An amazing event where one can see
real robots designed by students in action. Armed with mechanical claws,
arms or wheels, the developers must think of new and innovative ways to
complete the task before their time runs out, or before their robot ex-
plodes.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Pressure Management
A managerial arena divided into 3 rounds. Round one.
Teams of two are split up, one is sent for an aptitude
test, and the other for a riddle solving creativity round.
Round two. Teams are given a business problem; their
job is to find a solution in the form of a business plan or
strategy. This will be presented to a panel. Round three.
Meet thy maker. Finalists will be subjected to the worst,
most grueling interview they`ll ever give, with our panel
throwing impossible questions at them left , right and
centre.
REINCARNATION
One Problem: Many Solutions.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say, one man‘s junk is another
man‘s gold. Similarly, participants have to convert a pile of rubbish, it
may be anything from old wires and straws to sticks and thermocole,
and create a contraption that fulfills a given problem statement. Points
will be awarded on the basis of simplicity, time and problem fulfillment.
There is no box here; you have to think out of it.
FUNZONE
Let the games Begin!!
What‘s the point of all work if there‘s no play? At the
Funzone, participants can take part in a number of fun
games and activities. There‘s laser tag and counter-
strike, there‘s box soccer and Fifa, there`s catapult and
cricket. So take your pick and have a blast!!
CryptoCrux
Calling all Programmers.
The next world war they say will be fought not on
battlefields, but on keyboards. A few simple lines of
code can change the world. In this event, program-
mers are required to decode and crack programs.
IDEATE
Socially Aware: Beware.
Here students will have to use their level of social
awareness. A social problem related to current af-
fairs will be provided and the participants have to
create a solution within the given time period.
AXLERATE 2013
MOCKSTOCK
Downtown Dalal Street.
For all those financially inclined, here‘s a chance to put
your money where your mouth is. Literally. Each partici-
pant is given ten million bucks, and a three hour rapidly
fluctuating market. Within these three hours, it‘s up to you
to go double or nothing. Use your financial acumen to sur-
vive market crashes and falling economies, bullish sprees
and rupee spurts. Loot or get looted.
EVENT SCHEDULE
EVENT DATE TIME VENUE
Rally mania 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Robotica 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Robowars 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Reincarnation 22nd Feb 10:00 AM M 301
Inquizzzitive 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Dyaneshwar Hall
Designer Pro (AUTOCAD) 23rd Feb 9:00 AM Comp Lab
Designer Pro (PRO-E) 22nd Feb 9:00 AM Cad Cam Lab
Mind Your Own Business 22nd and 23rd Feb 9:00 AM A1 Placement Hall
Mock Stock 22nd Feb 1:00 PM A1 Placement Hall
Ideate 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Comp Lab
Prezenta 22nd Feb 90:00 AM M 404 & M 405
Crypto crux 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Comp Lab
Axlography 22nd Feb 10:00 AM Campus
Fun Zone 22nd and 23rd Feb 10:00 AM Ground
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 6
AXLERATE 2013
sustained in the detonations. This was followed by years of deformity in the following gen-
erations due to acute radiation exposure.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotech Applications: The Good.
Technology is all about making things smaller, and to that end, right now they're working
on making the smallest things possible. Nanotechnology is the science of making robots
that aren't much bigger than a molecule, and
there are lots of reasons for doing it. Imagine
sending a million microscopic machines into a
person's bloodstream programmed to attack a
tumor, or shoot the AIDS virus with tiny little
phasers. Imagine swarms of little cleaning
droids mopping up the pollution in our rivers, or
tiny manufacturing droids that can build any-
thing we want, in seconds, molecule-by-
molecule.
The big problem is, of course, how you ac-
tually build trillions of these little machines.
Simple: you teach them to replicate like
cells, using materials from the environment.
Nanotechnology can actually revolutionize a lot of electronic products, procedures, and
applications. The areas that benefit from the continued development of nanotechnology
include nano transistors, nano diodes, OLED, plasma displays, quantum computers, and
many more. The development of more effective energy-producing, energy-absorbing, and
energy storage products in smaller and more efficient devices is possible with this technol-
ogy. Such items like batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells can be built smaller but
can be made to be more effective with this technology.
Market Crashes: The Bad.
You will also find that the development of nanotechnology can bring about the
crash of certain markets by lowering the value of oil and diamonds due to the
possibility of developing alternative sources of energy that are more efficient ,
rendering fossil fuels obsolete. This can also mean that since people can de-
velop products at the molecular level, diamonds, emeralds, rubies , gold and
other precious material can now be mass produced and would lose their value .
Unstoppable NanoBots: The Ugly. K. Eric Drexler, one of the founding fathers of the whole nanotechnology concept, came up
with a number of spine-chillingly plausible doomsday scenarios. The problem is our nano-
bots would be like cellular terminators, much more advanced than any of the creations na-
ture invented. They could out-compete organic life overnight. Taken to its extreme, we
have the scenario affectionately known as the gray goo problem, which speculates the ma-
chines would simply start replicating out of control until everything in existence is just a
mass of tiny, scuttling robots, which scientists imagine would look like a pile of gray slop
floating through the void. Scary right ?
THE LARGE HADRON COLIDER
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's
largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was
built by the European Organization for Nuclear Re-
search (CERN) in 20 years from 1998 to 2008, with
the aim of allowing physicists to test the predictions
of different theories of particle physics and high-
energy physics. The LHC fires protons and lead ions
around a 17mile circular tunnel. Which travel at a
mind-blowing 99.9999991% of the speed of light-or
11,245 laps every second-or 671,000,000 mph. Every
second, 600 MILLION collisions take place, these
collisions generate temperatures which are more than 100,000 times that of the suns core.
Evolution of Technology: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
(Continued from page 1)
life.
The Indica was finally launched in 1998 January. But it was not a smooth drive. The Indica faltered and spluttered for long. Its
trials (literally) and tribulations caused much embarrassment to Tata. He admitted in interviews that he hesitated to take his
morning walks in south Mumbai because customers would seek him out to complain. The Indica settled down and soon, Tata
was dreaming again, this time to produce a Rs 1 lakh car. But the Nano, for all the media sensation
it created globally, is still not out of the woods.
Tata‘s passions, ranging from piloting aircraft to driving fast cars, fit with his persona of a dreamer.
Unlike most CEOs I‘ve met, Tata seems to fly aircraft for the love and personal thrill of it and not
because it places him a notch higher in the swish set, at least that‘s not the impression one has got.
Similarly with cars where it‘s not uncommon to see him driving an open sports car in south Mum-
bai, with a friend or two.
Looking back two decades, it‘s a long journey in a fairly short time. A lumbering truck company
metamorphoses into a car company that serendipitously ends up, a decade later, owning two of the
most iconic auto brands – Jaguar & Land Rover.
Many Indian business leaders achieved similar or greater accolades in the last decade. In growth and scale. But few have felt so strongly about India‘s
engineering skills and product capabilities. And that India could build cars too. At least in that generation. That‘s the stuff dreams are made of.
*Govindraj Ethiraj is an Indian financial journalist and formerly the Founder Editor-In-Chief at the television channel Bloomberg UTV. He earlier worked with CNBC TV18
before moving to Bloomberg UTV. He is also a well-known technology columnist.
Ratan Tata: The Dreamer of Cars (Continued from page 1)
He hesitated to take
his morning walks
in south Mumbai
because customers
would see him and
complain.
Nanobot`s attacking a cancer cell
Advancements in Research: The Good.
About 100 years ago physicists were at a standstill and had many conflicting theo-
ries about the universe. Then Ein-
stein introduced relativity and
quantum theory, and if you know
anything about physics you will
understand how many discoveries
followed this. Without the col-
lider, scientists cannot further
their understanding of quantum
theory and other scientific phe-
nomenon. The knowledge from
basic science is what propels new
and unforeseen technology and
gives us a better understanding of
the universe we live in, and a bet-
ter understanding leads to better
engineering and technology.
Strange Matter and Time Travel: The Very Ugly!
Scientists at the LHC project expect a lot of weird things to pop up when they start
smashing atoms together, and strange matter is one such possibility. Strange Matter
is a hypothetical material made up of quarks, which are one of the building blocks
of reality, things so small that you can't even possibly imagine. There are two hy-
potheses about strange matter. One is that the stuff will simply disappear a fraction
of a second after it appears. The other is that it will stabilize and convert every
atom it comes in contact with into more strange matter. So anything the matter
touches, it converts to strange matter, which converts other touching matter to
strange matter and so on and on in an infinite chain.
Time Travel? Really? Well the theory is that the LHC might open wormholes with
its high-energy collisions that future generations can manipulate for time travelling
purposes. And why is this bad? In the distant future, when the
stars have burned out and the planets have wobbled out of their
celestial orbits, the descendents of humanity will be staring
extinction in the face, and if they have access to a time machine
then it's likely they're going to just return to a more comfort-
able point in history .A flood of refugees from the future might
set up home in the present and flourish, until the world ends
again and they decide to do what worked last time. And again.
And again. Effectively, the moment we switch on our very first
time machine, our universe is going to be home to approxi-
mately infinity refugees from the future. You do the math.
AUTOMIZATION AND ROBOTICS
Robots are the future of man. Robots are faster , stronger and more efficient than
man. They work longer hours, don‘t need food or water, don't take breaks and dont
go home for diwali. One robot can easily do the work of 5 men in half the time it
takes them to do it, and will probably do a better job.
There was a time when the biggest argument against robots were that they cannot
imagine, cannot create art, cannot feel emotions. Not anymore. Robots, using artifi-
cial intelligence, can analyze tens of thousands of paintings, symphonies, forge
patterns and replicate art and music. Yes, today a
robot can think, today a robot can imagine, today a
robot can dream.
Fast and Efficient: The Good.
Robots are now widely used in the field of automa-
tion, assembly, and mass production. In some of the
world's biggest factories, there is scarcely a man in
sight. Not only do robots perform better than hu-
mans, but In some cases the quality requirements are
so stringent that even if you wanted to have a human do the job, you couldn‘t. If
your mass produced Indica was to be produced at the same rate and cost without
any robotic interference, your car would vibrate more than your phone and you'd
need to carry more tools than luggage on your annual Goa trip. Statistically speak-(Continued on page 7)
The LHC`s 17 mile tunnel circular tunnel located
100 meters underground
The moment we switch
on our very first time
machine, our universe is
going to be home to ap-
proximately infinity
refugees from the future.
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 7
AXLERATE 2013
ing, a Tata Indica is produced at a rate of one car every 67 seconds at their Pune plant, but without automation, this would
take at least one week. Same goes for surgeons, who are using robotic systems to perform an ever-growing list of opera-
tions—not because the machines save money but because, thanks to the
greater precision of robots, the patients recover in less time and have fewer
complications, says Dr. Myriam Curet, chief medical adviser at Intuitive Sur-
gical in Sunnyvale, Calif. The surgery bots don‘t replace surgeons—you still need a
surgeon to drive the robot. And they‘re not cheap. Prices go as high as $2.2 million
per machine.
Job Superiority and Unemployment: The Bad.
From self-service checkout lines at the supermarket to industrial robots armed with saws and drills, these ever-more-intelligent ma-
chines are now not just assisting workers but actually kicking them out of their jobs. And automation isn‘t just affecting factory work-
ers, either. Some law firms now use artificial intelligence software to scan and read mountains of legal documents, work that was pre-
viously performed by highly paid human lawyers. So is any job safe? If 20 years from now, robots build your cars, heal your sick, file
your lawsuits manage your finances and make the robots that build your cars, heal your sick, file your lawsuits and manage your fi-
nances. 20 years from now, what will you be doing?
Singularity and World Domination: The Bad.
There‘s a theory in the field of robotics and AI known as Singularity. As computers constantly evolve and learn, there may arise a situation when in the near future, a robot may
have a completely individual thought process. This is known as singularity, when a robot no longer needs man to govern its operation, but is free to operate on its own will. Ro-
bots may turn against us. And for that all it needs is one malfunctioning algorithm. A time may come, where stopping a machine wont be the simple matter of just ‗pulling the
plug‘. And if that does happen, its ‗Hasta laveesta , baby‘ !!
All said and done, the evolution of technology is a good thing. Evolution is, eventually , survival of the fittest, the good technologies thrive, the bad, only found in your grand-
mothers garage. The pros of technology certainly do outweigh the cons. And if the world is going to ever implode due to antimatter, have a nuclear meltdown, or is taken over by
robots. Well, at least we tried.
(Continued from page 6)
The DaVinci Surgical Robot for negligible invasion
surgeries
The Jewel of MIT : Amit Patwardhan As interviewed by Ashwini Doshi & Cherag Bhagwagar
Brilliant student, amazing sportsman, versatile theatre actor and musician, popular friend and a menace to all his teachers. Amit
Patwardhan was everything a student could be. A go getter from the very beginning, Amit represented his school in the Football
team, Gymnastics Team, Dramatics team & the school Choir. Was a senior best Boxer, and scored the highest percentage
amongst his contemporaries. He also ranked 16th in the Maharashtra State HSC Merit list for the year 1989-90.
During his 4 years at MIT from 1990 to 1994, he represented MIT in the Football team & the Dramatics team for the Purushot-
tam Karandak competition each year. He acted in several plays of Theatre Academy Pune while studying engineering and also
was a freelance Synthesizer player in numerous orchestras.
After passing out from MIT in 1994, Amit joined Philips in their R&D department as a Mechanical Designer and was assigned
to design music systems, two-in-ones and radio sets. He is responsible for single handedly designing the Philips Powerhouse
AW666.
Always being a passionate theatre enthusiast, in 1997 Amit Patwardhan found his true calling, Media. He, along with two
friends setup a partnership company by the name of Indian Magic Eye Pvt. Ltd, IME. Initially taking up 3D Animation
projects, Radio and TV commercials Projects & Industrial product shootings, today Indian Magic Eye is a multi crore industry
which does everything from organizing events to producing mainstream
movies. Here are a few excerpts from our interview with Mr.
Patwardhan…
Team Axlerate: Sir how was your time at MIT?
Amit Patwardhan: MIT was great; oh it was lots of fun. We used to do so
much masti and have so many things to do, apart from studies!! I was al-
ways involved in Purushottam and Firodiya and even played the college foot ball team, until someone knocked me so hard in
TE, that my leg was out. Studies was good too, I remember P.B. Joshi sir, that man was a TIGER!!, today he`s become
much softer and sweeter, but back then, everyone was afraid of him!
TA: Sir would you call yourself an ideal student, considering your scores and extracurricular activities?
AP: Haah!! Most of the teachers didn‘t even know who I was! I hardly attended! I‘ve spent thousands of rupees paying
fines! I still remember how P.B sir wouldn‘t grant us out term until we went and took a punishment from all our teachers. We
had to eventually write hundred pages from a textbook as punishment!
TA: What made you change your line of profession from engineering to media?
AP: See, although I had a fat salary at Philips, theatre was always my passion, so it was only a matter of time before I shifted
and formed Indian Magic Eye. This and the fact that the radio/powerhouse industry was getting battered up by imports. You
should always do what you enjoy doing. Believe in excellence, do anything, but do it perfectly.
TA: What edge do you think an engineer has over others in business?
AP: Although we haven‘t studied management, we are trained and honed to think logically and use a certain chain of
thought. If anyone can pass M1, M2, M3 and M4, he already has a logical head!! Plus engineers are accustomed to roughing it out, which is something few others are used to.
Drawing hundred sheets and copying thousand write-ups is something no other field demands. When I started my own business, I had to read all of my brother‘s commerce
books, but I still stick to the fact that taking engineering was an advantage.
TA: What prompted your company to grow and include so many departments?
AP: When we initially started, we took up only small 3D animation, radio and industrial shooting projects, but our approach was that jab koi dukan mein aata hai, toh mai usko
nikalne hi nahi doonga, jabtak he gets everything that he wants. So dheere dheere we started growing that way.
TA: And lastly sir, some words of advice for us students?
AP: Arrey what advice I‘ll give you!! I‘m the last person you should listen to!!
TA: Arrey sir ek do lines please !
AP: Accha ok, believe in the law of attraction, at least I do. The law of attraction is that when you want something so badly, when you want to achieve it with all your heart, then
everybody around you also hopes you get it, and the universe bends over backwards for you to get what you want.
AP AT A GLANCE
Selected Bishops school`s Best All round
Boy for the year 1987-88.
Ranked 16th in the Maharashtra State
HSC Merit list in the year 1989-90.
Solely designed the Philips Powerhouse
AW666.
Setup Indian Magic Eye in 1997.
Produced multiple films for Bajaj, Tata,
Greaves, Kirloskar, Leighton, KSB etc.
Started making TV serials and shows in
2000.
Produced “Harishchandrachi Factory”,
which went on to win the National Award
for Best Regional Film and was selected as
the Official Indian entry to the Oscar
Award.
Maharashtra Institute Of Technology The Annual Screw Page 8
AXLERATE 2013