National ElectroniX Olympiad
National ElectroniX Olympiad (NEO), formerly known as ‘All Pakistan ElectroniX Olympiad’, is a robotics event held annually at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Science and Technology. It is organized by IEEE GIKI Student Branch and WIE GIK Affinity Group.[1][2]
NEO is a three-day event organized during spring semester. It includes different robotics, technical ,non-technical modules and social events. Students of universities from around Pakistan participate in the Olympiad. The event has taken place every year since 2008. Winners of every module are awarded with cash prizes.
IEEE GIKI Student Branch & WIE GIKI Affinity Group
The Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE, read I-Triple-E)GIKI Chapter, normally referred to as IEEE GIKI, is an active student branch of IEEE Islamabad section, Region 10. It is run by the bright and innovative students of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIK Institute) under the supervision of Administration of the institute and the faculty of Electronics engineering. IEEE GIKI is a non-profit organization that works to ensure innovation, technology advancement and carries out further research in the field of Robotics. Being one of the biggest technical societies in a leading engineering institute in Pakistan, IEEE GIKI has never failed to entertain the students, helping them out technically and academically. IEEE GIKI holds many events for the promotion of robotics which includes Robot making workshops, Seminars conducted by leading figures in the field,Web-designing workshops, Inter-university robotics competitions, and an All-Pakistan National Electronics Olympiad (NEO).
WIE GIKI chapter is an affinity group of IEEE GIKI Chapter that works in collaboration with the organization. WIE Chapter is basically for the promotion of women in engineering. It works to facilitate the female engineering students and inspire the girls to use their diverse talents to innovate for the benefit of humanity. It was inaugurated at Pakistan Student/GOLD/WIE congress 2012
Modules
Robotics Modules
Robomaze
Robomaze is the real stumper. The module not only requires extra ordinary mechanical design skills for making a robot with precise maneuvering ability but also an exceptional programming sense. This competition is a challenge for innovative minds in which we aim to test the analytical and problem-solving skills of the participants.
Robothon
Robothon is one of the hallmark events of IEEE GIKI Chapter. Over the years, Robothon has successfully accomplished the task to provide a national platform for the competition of robots. Talented individuals from all over Pakistan pit their fast moving robots against each other on this arena. In this event, the contestant's robot must move along an intricate track containing a number of checkpoints. The robots must pass through each checkpoint and an inability to do so will cost the contestant precious points.[4]
Figure 8
Figure 8 is a thoroughly technical and entertaining module. Basic focus is on the efficient hardware techniques used in robot to increase its efficiency (e.g. speed, design etc). This is a hot pursuit of sorts in which tworobots have to chase down the other in order to win while staying on the track the entire time.
Robowars
Robowars is a module designed to promote the sport of Robotic Combat. The module encourages the engineers and innovators to turn their wildest ideas into solid metal to build the ultimate combat machines.
Technical Modules
Race to Innovation
The modules calls for innovative skills in a vast domain of disciplines. The participants are required to sole a problem in a given time frame. It comprises a problem solving session and practical tasks to be implemented.
MIC Night
Micro-controller Interfacing Competition (MIC) is a competitive event that aims to provide a platform for students where they can put their micro-controller programming skills against a given problem. The MIC is a challenging competition that not only aims to put a team's competence pertaining to micro-controllers to the test but also to stimulate creativity amongst the participating teams in order to solve the given problem , efficiently. Contesting teams will be judged based on the efficiency and adopted methodology in solving the given problem. The competition is divided into two parts which are coding and simulating on Proteus.
Code Hunt
WIE GIKI Affinity Group in collaboration with IEEE GIKI Student Branch introduced a new module in NEO ‘15 for the programmers out there and, is ready to continue it in NEO ‘16. Code Hunt will take place in our highly equipped Lab of Electrical & Electronics Faculty giving you all a chance to test your programming skills at their best in a given span of time. The most elegant code wins it all; judged by JS Node servers minimizing the human error
PCB Design
PCB design is organized by WIE Affinity Group. This module does not only demand prompt assembling skills but also an exceptional aesthetics sense. This competition is a challenge for innovative minds in which we aim to explore the most attractive yet efficient design out of all.
Project Exhibition
It is a general module in which participants can display their various projects. The scope of projects and judging criteria is decided every year separately.
Non-Technical Module
Speak It Up
This module is designed to enable the students to learn about the ethical and professional dimensions of decision making which companies employ when tasked with solving a problem on a national scale. The problem will exist in a fictional state of Anarchistan and will probably be a crisis situation. For example, an earthquake has hit the state and the government is approaching private companies for the rescue efforts. As part of the aiding company, you are to come up with an efficient plan based on an innovative idea, which can be executed with relative ease to avert the crisis, all while reducing the government’s overall expenditure on the project and making a reasonable profit for your own company.
Social Highlights
Social events are planned throughout the three day event in order to entertain and refresh the participants between tough and tiring competitions. They mainly consist of a Hiking Trip, a Gala Dinner, Summit 4 Glory, and a concert.
1st All Pakistan ElectroniX Olympiad
The Olympiad was first organized in 2009 with the title “FIRST ALL PAKISTANI ELECTRONIX OLYMPIAD”. The event held from January 30 to February 1, 2009. The technical modules of the event were Robothon (maze solving competition, brainwave quiz competition, microcontroller interfacing and explore a vision).
2nd All Pakistan ElectroniX Olympiad
The following year Olympiad held from February 10, 2010. All the modules were the same and a total of eighty students participated in the event.
3rd All Pakistan ElectroniX Olympiad
The third Olympiad was held from February 10 through February 13, 2011. In addition to the previous technical modules, a new module was introduced named Antenna Design Competition.
4th All Pakistan ElectroniX Olympiad
The fourth Olympiad was held from March 11 through March 12, 2012. This year's modules were divided into senior and junior categories. Senior category modules were designed for university level students and the junior category for high school students. Senior category consisted of Robothon, MIC Geek Freak, Simulation Lab View, Explore a Vision, Race To Innovation, Gismo Tech and Brainwave Competition. This year Robothon included Line Tracking Competition along with Maze Solving. The junior modules were Robo Wars, Robo Soccer, Project Exhibition, Race to Innovation, Survival of Brainiac and Symposium. The number of participants this year was around 200.
5th National ElectroniX Olympiad 2013
From 2013 onwards this event was renamed “National Electronics Olympiad”. This year the event was held from February 8 through February 10. Almost 250 young brainiacs from different universities throughout Pakistan participated in the Olympiad. The NEO13 was composed of several modules, each of which challenged the intellect and skills of the participants to a greater extent. This year Robothon included two categories for line tracking; a main track event for microcontroller based robots and a Figure 8 competition for logic and Lego based robots. Maze Solving competition was made a separate module with the title Robomaze. In the Robothon main track event, PIEAS succeeded in making their way to victory and in the Figure 8 Competition team from Head Start school emerged as the winner. The students of FAST Islamabad secured 1st prize in MIC Night competition. In Race to Innovation and Speak It Up, the students of PIEAS again were the victors. Social events included a scavenger hunt, hill trekking, themed lunch and a concert by SYMT band.[5]
6th National ElectroniX Olympiad 2014
National Electronics Olympiad (NEO) ’14 emerged to be another successful robotics competition held by IEEE GIKI Student Branch, from 31st Jan to 2nd Feb 2014. It was the 6th event held for the participants from all over the country to compete in different robotic modules where they could test their skills and prove themselves the winners. The event this year held many modules such as Robothon, Figure 8, RoboMaze, Race to Innovation, Project Exhibition, Speak it Up, RoboWars, PCB Design and MIC Night. RoboWars was the addition of a new module in which robots fought “till the last one standing”. In the module Figure 8 Lego Based, Namal Mianwali collected the first prize whereas Logic Based was won by a team from SSUET. Winner of Project Exhibition was the team from MAJU. FAST NU Islamabad was the winner of RoboWars, Race to Innovation, Robothon and MIC Night. Speak it up! Winners’ prize was taken by National Textile University, Faisalabad. RoboMaze ended with NUST C.E.M.E. as the winners. PAF KIET made their way to victory in PCB Design. Arslan Shahid (UOL) was the winner of The Best Ambassador Award. This year, an addition was the NEO Trophy which was to be claimed by the University that had shown distinction in most modules. The first winner of the Trophy was FAST NU Islamabad that had emerged as the winners in four different modules. The Social Events held this year were Scavenger Hunt (won by University of Lahore), Theme Dinner and Hiking Trip.
7th National ElectroniX Olympiad 2015
National Electronics Olympiad (NEO) ’15 emerged to be another successful robotics competition held by IEEE GIKI Student Branch, from 13th to 15th March 2015.[6] It gave opportunity to participants from all over the country to test their skills and prove themselves. A total of ten modules were held this year which included Robothon, Figure 8, RoboMaze, Race to Innovation, Project Exhibition, Speak it Up, RoboWars, Code Hunt, PCB Design and MIC Night. Winner of Project Exhibition was the team from CASE. FAST NU Islamabad was the winner of RoboWars, Figure 8 and PCB Design. Speak it up was won by UET Taxila. RoboMaze, Race to Innovation, Code Hunt and MIC Night were won by NUST EME. Air University won the module of Robothon. Kiran Abbas (UET Taxila) was the winner of The Best Ambassador Award. The winner of this years’ trophy was EME NUST. The Social Events held this year were Scavenger Hunt (won by MUST) and Hiking Trip.
8th National ElectroniX Olympiad 2016
National Electronics Olympiad (NEO) ’16 was yet another successful robotics competition conducted by IEEE GIKI Student Branch in collaboration with WIE GIKI, from 25th to 27th March 2016. Participants from all over the country were invited to test their technical skills. 10 modules were conducted this year, out of which 4 were robotics modules including Robothon, RoboMaze, RoboWars and Figure 8 while the rest were Project Exhibition, Race to Innovation, Code Hunt, PCB Design, Speak it Up and MIC Night. Theme Dinner, Ted Talks, Brunch, Scavenger Hunt and Movie Day were also organized. In addition to all these a seminar on “Career Counselling” was also conducted. Winner of Speak It Up was team PIEAS. Winner of Code Hunt was team Mental Minds. Winner of MIC Night was team Orion. Winner of Race to innovation was team PIEAS. Winner of PCB Design was team Anday Wala Burger. Winner of RoboWars was team Orion. Winner of Robothon was team Comsats Islamabad. Winner of Figure 8 was team Challega. Winner of Robomaze was team 5 volt/dc. 8th National Electronix Olympiad Trophy was given to NUST EME.