TECH COMPT Week #1 : A Report

The ASME Student Section at UPES did it, and did it with panache. Week #1 of the Technical Competition, consisting of two events (that nobody took lightly, ) viz. Lakshya: Water Rocket and Paper Airplane Making, was a resounding success.

[The field, demarcated for the event]

The event, started off on the 11th of February, 2010 at 3 PM (earlier than decided), and cut short some of the participants' field tests. The first round of Lakshya, the water rocket competition, had 17 teams of which 6 qualified for the second and final round.

The problem statement for the first round was to clear a 35m mark from the launchpad and accumulate the maximum distance (cumulatively) with a bottle propelled by pressurized water and air. The first round was hard-fought and teams shunted up and down the leader-board with amazing distances. The teams were given a bonus option in the form of a target located 70m from the launchpad - any team that gets their rocket to touchdown within a radius of 3m from the target gets a direct entry into the next round. This criterion was cleared by only one team.

The six teams that qualified for the final round turned up on the 12th with certain modifications (which were allowed). This final round was held parallel to the other event, Paper airplane. While the paper airplane enthusiasts had a go with their designs ranging from conventional to outright weird, the audience cheered the presence of the Pro-Vice Chancellor, the Dean of Engineering and other faculty with a guest from the Aerospace Industry. The Paper airplane competition tested the contestants' design for the ability to stay aloft for the maximum period of time. And the record set at the event was of 9.33 seconds.

[The winners of Lakshya: Razzmatazz, revving up]

[The winner of the Paper Airplane

Competition, Sagar Ahuja, doing a celebratory jig]

The teams that bagged honours at Lakshya: Water Rocket Competition were:

Winners (I): Razzmatazz

Team members: Rahul Rathore, Dinesh Rawat, Hemant Sharma & Alok Nautiyal

First Runners Up (II): Fighters

Team members: Arka, Abhijeet, Monica, Kumar Ashish

Second Runners Up (III): Team Vinayak

Team members: Vinayak, Vakul, Prateek C, Siddharth

The 3 for the Paper Airplane Competition were:

Winner (I): Sagar Ahuja

Best time: 9.33 sec

First Runner Up (II): Tarun Gupta

Best time: 7.83 sec

Second Runner Up (III): Srikant

Best time: 6.86 sec