The APOGEE English Press sat down with Rupen Kakuste, the Coordinator of the Radio Control Club (RC Club), to gain insight into their work prior to the fest.
Rupen introduced the RC Club as one of the oldest clubs on campus, comprising two divisions — the drone and plane verticals — which Rupen said possessed their own distinct identities and worked on separate projects throughout the year. However, he made sure to clarify that the club never limited its members, citing their submarine, plane launcher, and ground surveying vehicles as projects for members interested in more than just drones and planes. The RC Club had recently participated in nation-wide robotics competitions and were runners-up in India’s largest robotics event in the drone category, thereby securing a prize of 7.5 lakhs.
For APOGEE ’26, the club would be organising their legacy event, Sky High, wherein they would be organising a beginner-friendly workshop and teaching participants how to build radio control planes. The club prepared kits that are tested and verified to be flight-ready, Rupen stated, and participants would have to compete for the longest flight time after receiving simulated training from club members. He added that he viewed the event as a mechanism to give back to the community by instilling in participants the joy of watching their work take flight.
While talking about challenges faced by the club, he spoke about the handling of logistics, an issue that he noted had plagued the club every year since his joining. He planned to tackle this issue more holistically as Coordinator by splitting the club into several groups in order to streamline the design process. He added that the only other setback was getting funds from CoStAA on time in order to test and obtain components without delays. However, he added that he was grateful to CoStAA for letting them expand their budget despite the cancellation of the student fest deductions for APOGEE.
He went on to mention that work for the fest started almost a month before the interview and majorly involved designing the kit, selecting materials to use, and testing capabilities of the design. He elucidated that the first version took about 2–3 hours to build, which then had to be scaled down to 20–30 minutes, the typical duration of the workshop. He went on to detail the difficulties involved in optimising the kit for flight, opining that in aerodynamics; one aspect, such as materials used, complexity, or affordability often had to be compromised for another to be improved. He also spoke about how the club had been unable to add electronic components to the kit due to the fact that it would drastically increase the prices from about ₹700 to roughly ₹16,000.
On the topic of the RC Club’s growth from previous editions of the fest, Rupen revealed that post-COVID the club had been ‘absolutely dead’. He said that due to his batch’s hard work and sleepless nights, the club grew from about 4–5 members to almost 30 members. He added that he wished for every batch to be more knowledgeable than their predecessors, and for them to actually carry that knowledge forward in their lives. He revealed that before the onset of the pandemic, the seniors from the club would attend competitions in the US. Envisioning the club in some years, Rupen hoped that he would see the members attend outstation competitions just like the ones in the past.
On a concluding note, he advised future Coordinators to continue to love their hobbies and not just chase a position of responsibility or title. Regarding his experience as a Coordinator, he said it had been a pleasure to serve the club, and how time flew whenever he set foot in the RC room . He concluded the interview by reminding BITSians that it is never too late to chase their hobbies and to never be afraid to share their little victories in life.