The APOGEE English Press interviewed Nikhil Handa, the coordinator of IEEE, a student branch club for the main IEEE at BITS Pilani, to ask about their preparations for APOGEE ’25.

Nikhil elaborated on the four events that IEEE would conduct during the fest, which were to include: a micromouse event—where contestants would have to create an autonomous bot to find the centre of a maze, AI poker—where contestants have to build an engine to propose their own AI model, a game theory based event that would integrate the split-and-steal concept, and a digital-design challenge to test the designing skills through practical design questions.

The coordinator added that all of the aforementioned events were planned in accordance with the theme of APOGEE—Revved up Rhapsody. He said that the events this time around would be more enhanced than last year’s as the club had invested more time in planning the details. More attention was given in the maze to improve it, AI Poker was heavily debugged, and an easier version of the game theory challenge was introduced as well. 

Nikhil talked about how it was difficult to develop ideas that made their events engaging, especially when a digital quiz could be “as boring as a mid-sem”. He asserted that he was quite pleased with his role as a coordinator and appreciated his team’s dedication. He remarked that working with CoStAA was smooth, despite the CoStAA’s hands being tied with several constraints.

Finally, he challenged BITSians to step up their game this fest, and said that he expected more from the students.