Tireless efforts, Tremendous results Wondering what I’m talking about?? It’s about the two markable events that took place one after the other at KCT, the RIGathon and The Think o Fest Hackathon by Dover.

The RIGathon:

A collaboration of the three most significant platforms at KCT, the Iqube, the Re and the Garage. The RIG team set up an appealing workspace and scheduled all happenings evidently. The idea of RIG itself had a great reach among the students. Many of us had inspiring ideas but not sure of where to exhibit our ideas, only then came up the RIG team with the RIGathon. The RIGathon seemed a platform for many aspiring KCTians to exhibit their talents. The participants were chosen through the brainstorming interview session held by the chief executives of the RIG platform. Those selected weren’t just participants but more vibrantly the RIGy’s of the event. The poster that always reminds us of how tirelessly we will have to work to reach success. The RIGy’s took a break from their regular schedule to develop mind-blowing ideas of designing a rover that wanders around KCT, accommodating any possible facility, over an intense 48-hour period. A complete guidance of what the RIGathon would be, was clearly explained on the eve of day 0 and we were split up into teams of six. Not to forget the Network dinner, I dint know a dine with my RIGymates would work out in such a manner, it turned to be “My Team”, in just a night. So it was, to the other RIGy teams. I found all comforting themselves with their RIGymates. Then off to the workspace, where each of us suggesting different ideas. THE RIGYs ready with their bots The most affirmative approach of validating an idea would be a quarrel over which idea would define the best outcome. This approach lead to the best of ideas to be pitched the next morning. Each team lead consolidated their RIGys’ ideas and the notable ones were pitched. The significant ones were selected by the RIG team and the RIGy’s were ready to work on their prototype. The RIGy’s split up their work into different quarters and later incorporated their work to make up the Ultimatum. Each part of the team burnt the midnight oil for the best output. Late-night thinkers enjoyed a 12AM snack to refuel. We saw RIGy’s who lived the whole of 48 hours with Coffee. The funniest moment at the RIGathon was, we waiting for the Pizza to be served. The whole set of RIGy’s were back to back aligned for having pans of Pizza, where each of us were falling-out of who would get earlier. The contentment blooming on the faces of some RIGy’s who had almost completed their bot was so much fascinating to see. The happiness of walking out of the work-space completing the rover was priceless. There were also the other extremes, where the RIGy’s worked until the eleventh hour. A Success or a Failure, the best part, I observed was no one stepped back. Each and every team presented their ideas and their prototypes, the Demo eve, with utmost confidence. Another notable part of RIGathon was that the whole of RIGy set were generous, I found people from other teams helping their opponent team, providing any accessory they needed. The greatest success of any event would be coordination of the event organizers and the participants, which I felt, was abundant at RIGathon. Every team were given equal guidance and the notable ideas were acknowledged, during the Final Demo. It was for this Final Demo each team burnt the oil for. Each team exhibited their best. The most surprising thing was, eight unique awards were distributed among the most deserving teams. Some RIGy’s were selected to work along with the dream team at KCT, the team KUMKI. From RIGathon, I, as an individual learnt loads say, how to utilize time, how to get on with a team, how to face situations boldly, how not to panic.

The THINK o FEST HACkathon by DOVER:

So now to the Think o fest Hackathon by Dover, where students from three different colleges the KCT, VIT and the PSG were given the problem statements to work on with and to provide the leading solutions off the existing ones. The Hackathon started with the inaugural ceremony that took place the very night, the participants from VIT and PSG assembled at KCT. We had the networking dinner where inter-college and intra-college teams were set up. The next morning the teams tirelessly worked on the problem statement giving out all possible solutions. The healthy competition among the teams lead to the most unique solutions. The students worked round the clock. They were able to figure out the problem statement inch by inch which paved way to the most idiosyncratic solution in a span of 24 hours. Students not only worked on the technical part of the problem statement but also many diversified aspects, say the psychological, the political and various other factors affecting the development of a product. Students were also able to augment the statistical data, the survey undertaken along with their ideas which had a wide reach. The work-space where all the RIGys were assembled and were ready to pitch their ideas. I felt that the ideal concept of Hackathon is the way we encounter time, 1 day might seem small, unless we look into the 24 hours behind it. Even 24 hours seems small when we see 1440 minutes inside it. Utilizing this abundant time, to flourish with all possible ideas would be the noteworthy success, which was achieved in this Hackathon. The necessary supplements were accessible at anytime. The 24/7 reliable service provided at KCT was remarkable. The Dover executives considered each and every idea that was pitched and suggested their views. The ideas pitched were distinctive. The best among the best were examined and selected. Obviously there were tremendous outputs, for the students’ tireless inputs. Both the RIGathon and the THINK o FEST Hackathon by Dover, had a great reach than the expected. I enjoyed being a part of both the events and livelier to say “happy to be a part of KCT”. Such great opportunity to all vibrant beginners would be the first success KCT would own.

#1 You won’t get it until you do it by yourself! From ‘cramming over concepts a day before exams’ to Mastering concepts every day!

During the previous semesters, we have developed an in-depth understanding of several established concepts and theories, most of which was an answer to ‘why’ skipping the ‘how’ part. Cramming the concepts word by word just before the exams had become an imperative procedure to achieve our mission of scoring reasonably in the semesters. We had no idea about the outcome and the sequel, once these theoretical concepts are put into action. Comprehending discoveries and inventions are so very important, but what is more important is learning by doing and experimenting with them hands-on. ProtoSem offers a platform to tinker, experiment, learn and unlearn several concepts that we had the option to only imagine after reading through ample books, powerpoint presentations and post numerous lectures.

#2 Trifling with a hypothetical problem [project] every semester to Innovating for real-world problems!

There were semesters that had made projects mandate where we worked in teams of 3–4 friends, who shared a common level of comfort. We would either surf over the internet to arrive at a project that is already existing, been tested and reported or look for ideas from seniors/project centres who have the design-in-hand. One of the teammates will take the lead and the rest of us can be seen putting in humongous effort to score brownie points by trying to impress the external with the final presentation. But, in ProtoSem, we have demonstrated the importance of composing a team with diverse skills and expertise through several Team Building activities. Its mandate for every team to have a Visionary, Hustler & Hacker. Visionaries went on-field to discover potential problems from various sectors and pitched the concept to marshal hustlers and hackers. The team works together on a real-time problem identified by visionaries and validated for its feasibility and viability by the team. We are taught to build cost-effective technological solutions to the most critical industrial and societal problems by the team of experts who guide us in problem identification & validation through an effective on-field user discovery to ensure that we aren’t working on a hypothetical problem or building a solution that no customer demands.

#3 Credit-focused teaching versus Customer-focused LEARNING!

As I had mentioned earlier, Our efforts were zeroed-in-on credits and exams, rather than building skills & competencies. Here at ProtoSem, from Day-1, from Problem identification to Testing prototypes, we are guided to go on-field, meet the customers, ask good questions, and understand the problem and facts from their lens. The expert sessions helped us understand the significance of prototyping to develop solutions iteratively at a minimum cost in the lowest time frame. We are supported with tools, that offers a wide range of tools to help us effectively reach the customers, validate the problem thoroughly with them, understand the existing solution, the adoption barriers and constraints and then test the prototype to obtain some critical feedback.

#4 Oblivious to Omniscience — extremely well-updated with the latest Tech!

Obsessed with the pattern of lectures, books, internals & semesters, we hardly found interest and time to remain updated with the latest in the world of technology. But at ProtoSem, we gain updates regularly by sharing articles with the peers who possess a common interest, tinkering with technologies and from on-field undertakings. Most of the sessions are hands-on workshops, we not only gain insights and knowledge from our core subjects but also from other fields and subjects that are essential to managing the process of innovation.

#5 Being coached versus being taught!

Instead of giving baby-step instructions on what has to be done with established procedures and processes in a formal setting, all that the FORGE team gives us is a big ball of clay and guidance as we jigger the ball into various shapes and forms iteratively in accordance with the demands and attributes of our project. It is a great leap of the existing us from who we have been. Most of us have completely overcome the stage fear and have started volunteering to pitch our ideas and concepts. We have evolved to accept failures, be far more resilient, and are prepared to revamp and are on the continuous lookout for ‘‘What worked? What didn’t go well? What could’ve been done better? What should we do next?”.

#6 Frittering away time on the internet to Managing the money value of time!

Rather than spending a lot of our time over social media and movies, we have developed a habit of putting in our efforts over self-improvement and Do-It-Yourself Sessions. We spend a lot of our time in hooking together batteries, lights, buzzers, motors, resistors, potentiometers and switches, designing & building circuits or creating a VR App etc or learning essential ML algorithms. Overall, most leisure and holidays are in the innovation and prototyping labs. Even beyond the usual working hours and during the odd hours of the day, we get support from lab associates and our team mentors.

#7 Motivated by Marks & Attendance versus Motivation by MISSION & PASSION!

The main factor that pushed us to classes during the previous semesters was attendance. But now that most of the sessions are experimental, we have evolved ourselves to put in efforts on our own without any rules and enforcement. We also watch some of the most impactful TED Talks or interact with founders on innovation, science & tech every Thursday and get motivated by their innovation, product, attitude, approach, and determination, that they had throughout the journey apart from improving the communication capabilities.

#8 Transforming by self-realization, intent, and dedication versus Transacting with classes, exams and grades!

Here, at ProtoSem as we are driven to work on a problem that impacts our friends or family or our business or the society that we live in, we develop a sense of realization and are constantly motivated by the fact that we are working for a cause and our innovation is addressed solve a critical problem of our community. On the whole, ProtoSem is a potential driver of creativity and innovation catering to our pursuits, with practical sessions offering a unique opportunity to experiment the conceptual insights that we have gained from lectures during the previous semesters.