The coordinator of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Ashini Katiyar, was approached by the APOGEE English Press (AEP) for a short interview about the work undertaken by their student chapter ahead of APOGEE 2024.

In this edition of the fest, ASME will be organising four events – ‘ATV Racing’, ‘Hoverboard Challenge’, ‘Eggdrop Challenge’, and ‘CADathon’ which will be organised in collaboration with the Mechanical Engineering Association.

The ‘Hoverboard Challenge’ is a modification of last year’s ‘Robo-Olympics’, with certain specifications on what type of machines can be made, limiting it to hoverboards. The ‘Eggdrop Challenge’ is a fun event which involves building a contraption which protects an egg from cracking when dropped from a height.

The ATV racing event — sponsored by ‘MapmyIndia’ — is one that Ashini is quite excited about, and hopes the general student body will be as well, considering that it is a hallmark event representing mechanical engineering. CADathon, sponsored by Autodesk, intends to be an event which requires participants to use concepts of engineering drawing and 3D modelling to solve a problem statement in CAD software.

ASME events will be conducted on a much larger scale than last year, both in terms of the number of events and expected turnout.  When asked about pre-APOGEE preparation, Ashini said that all of the events had been well-thought-out and finalised promptly. A lot of emphasis was placed on outreach this year, the lack of which had been an issue in the past.

On a final note, Ashini said that the events organised by ASME are not just for mechanical engineering students, but are general events, which should be considered as a “celebration of the engineering aspects of life”. There would be all sorts of events and she invited everyone to come and see, as it would “surely pique their interest”.