ACM-W INAUGURATION CEREMONY

Our stereotypical world and gender-discriminating politics/policies have landed women with choice few careers to follow, stamping on their creativity, aptitude and intellect. Inspite of this, modern times have seen women emerging in all kinds of fields, still the ratio of women to men in computing and engineering fields is very low.

ACM-W (Association of Computing Machinery – Women Wing), inaugurated today (Thursday, October, 16^th 2014) at SEECS, NUST by Ms. Nigar Nazar, aims at addressing this very issue by providing a platform to the women on which they can not only test and polish their existing skills and train themselves at new ones but also explore innumerable opportunities in taking up a career in computing. It basically aims at advocating women empowerment and encourages women to be a part of the technological world.

                         

Ms. Nigar Nazar, CEO of the Gogi Studios, the first cartoonist of Pakistan and thus the perfect candidate for the occasion, was the Chief Guest at the inaugural ceremony where she talked about her own experience with technology and how it helped her excel in her field. She showed the audience her work (digitized comics, animations, greeting cards with her famous Gogi character on them etc.) as a way to make us appreciate how much further than a drawing sheet an artist can go by using modern technology. She said that an artist is no longer confined to the constraints of his/her easel and paint brush, same goes for all the other professions; all due to technology.

ACM-W’s chair, Azka Nadeem, Vice Chair, Rushda Basir, ACM’s faculty advisor, Mr. Sohail Iqbal and ACM President, Aadil Jalil Chaudhary also spoke about their views of the women wing and what they expect of it. At the end Ms. Nigar was awarded a shield for honoring the occasion with her presence, and then she officially declared the ACM - Women Chapter open.

All the audience were given greeting cards by Gogi-studios, and ten lucky people were given gogi comic books. Later everyone proceeded for the cake cutting ceremony. After that Ms. Nigar accompanied by Faculty members and Chairs and vice chairs proceeded to the faculty lounge for tea.

The inauguration went really well since a lot of people turned up, and now that the Women Wing is official we hope to work together and make it as much of a success as ACM itself.

Written by : Amna Aziz

Event Photographer : Maham Shahid

Smarter Robots

Right Now, I really wish for a small robot to hand over my cellphone placed at a little distance from me or plug the laptop`s charger (it`s gonna hibernateeeeeeee … 7% *dies* ) ... laziness kills us sometimes don’t you think ?  … That, perhaps is our story still we can go and get it or grab it using something long :P ? … When we hear the word “ROBOTS” all we think of is that I should have one to help me do my assignment or help me grab things. Has anyone of you thought about how we can make use of them in doing things that are impossible without them?

Meet IXI-play -> An Adorable Robot Buddy

NOO!! It`s not just a toy one plays with, it is an adorable robot buddy … probably a child`s first friend, made to support childhood development. Well, behind his big sweet eyes, ixi-play is an advanced robot equipped with face detection, color, and voice recognition and he was designed to actively engage with your child. It can see, hear, move, dance and express wonderfully life-like emotion. Children are drawn to ixi-play and the strategic educational content built into his game repertoire supports their development.

 

Nano-Robot -> Fight Against Cancer

This is definitely a cause. They are tiny robots that are capable of recognizing good and bad cells to threat specifically the wrong cells. This DNA nano robot carries the drug into the body to specific cells where it is required. This idea led to the hope of curing cancer. The previous methodology caused toxic substances in the body that also disabled many other processes and led to many different side-effects such as hair loss, nausea. By recognizing "bad" cells and the ability to drop medicines in the right place, damage to healthy tissue can be prevented.

Agile Robot -> A Humanoid Robot

“Hi” <- meet my friend Atlas, a humanoid robot created by Boston Dynamics, a company that Google acquired in December 2013. It can walk across rough terrain and even run on flat ground. Useful in biomechanical engineering. Although robots such as Honda’s ASIMO and Sony’s QRIO are able to walk, they cannot quickly adjust their balance. Atlas, which has an exceptional sense of balance and can stabilize itself with ease, demonstrates the abilities that robots will need to move around human environments safely and easily 

Written By: Fatima Mahmud

Drone- Different Perspective

With time people perspectives, attitudes, thinking change. Since human nature is inquisitive by nature and human tries to explore new horizons, new fields and different aspects of life.

I was reading an article somewhere; to my surprise it highlighted how deadliest things can be used for one’s own fun. It showed another side of drone. Using drone technology for fun National Geographic sponsored a competition of aerial photography. The arrival of cheap drone technology - and small, light high-quality cameras - has given rise to a new genre of beautiful aerial photography and film-making.

This shot taken from drone won first prize. It was taken over Bali Barat National Park Indonesia.

Drone photography offers a new perspective to photography. It depicts a new vision to world. Photos taken from low altitude, near field.

A whole website Dronestagram has been dedicated for this purpose, All photos taken from drones are uploaded here. Drones can cover a wide range of places. Places where access  of human is not possible drones can do a great job.

So it is surprising how can one change use of something from a destructive one to a good and entertaining one. I found it quite interesting so i wanted to share it.

By: Sitwat Atiq

Puzzle Hunt

It was Tuesday, a warm sunny day like anyother day at Nust. Everything was the usual, the scorching heat, the boring conduction of classes and  the hectic schedule we all find so hard to cope up with. But on 30^th of September, every face in SEECS waited for the clock to strike 1pm eagerly. Ah yes! it was ACM’s first ever fun filled event for which everyone waited impatiently because it was something which reflected the idea of having a break from the dull academic routine. “THE PUZZLE HUNT” is what was awaited.

The story behind “Puzzle Hunt” has a very interesting background. A talented ACM member had coded a game which featured a puzzle to solve-oh trust me! it was not a piece of cake. Only someone with great mental skills could solve the mystery behind it. And from there the idea of ACM’s first ever event for the year 2014-2015 got seeded. So I was given the task to report at the Farabi Lab and observe closely so I could come up with a report later on, and here I’m trying to jot down every single detail I can recall. Well to be honest I wasn’t expecting anything big. But yes I was proved wrong. It was actually a very fun event.

“Hira, I hope it turns out to be a fun experience for the freshies” remarked a dear friend while we were on our way to SEECS-Farabi Lab. “I have my fingers crossed!” is all I said with a witty smile. The first thing that caught my eye when we entered the lab was the big crowd neatly seated at the computer tables waiting for the Chair to call out “Let’s start the competition!!”. And in a few moments, after everyone was instructed, the competition began. In a flash of seconds, there was a change of expression from the relaxed idle ones to frowns of determination signifying how everyone wanted to get hold over those tickets to movie at Cineplex. So what exactly was the task assigned to the competitors?

Well the task sounded easy. There were teams of three. Every team had to solve the puzzle that appeared on their screens. Take the screen shot of the sorted puzzle and move on to the next one. The interesting part was that the puzzles were basically pictures of places at Nust (mostly Seecs) which everyone had to sort. After solving maximum puzzles in the first 25min, teams were supposed to hare off to the specified places and take pictures with members of ACM.

I encountered confused faces because the “oh so easy puzzles” were time consuming and that is where stress and panic started to play its role. Freshies  were making vague guesses at what exactly the place could be. But that is what made the event very interesting. It was all about putting up a battle against one another. Students from the sophomore batch took part as well and overall the event was a great success.

Congratulations to the following teams for posing a great competition. And special congrats to the Team Jigsaw-Abdul Wahab,  Murtaza Wahab and Taha Raza for winning themselves tickets to movie at Cineplex. Here is a list of the winning teams.

Team Jigsaw

Points: 100/100

Team IBM

Points: 88/100

Team 021

Points: 80/100

Team Bullz

Points: 80/100

ACM once again gave a great boosting start to this roller coaster ride of the year 2014-2015.The credit goes to the hard work and the full determination with which everyone played their role. ACM is all set to make this year a fun experience. Till then lets all keep ourselves patient. ^_^

Written By: Hira Farooq
Photographer: Aatrah Rauf

ACM ORIENTATION

                                                                

New members at ACM finally got to see its entertaining side as the official orientation ceremony was held on 1^st October 2014 in SEECS seminar hall.

The speakers were ACM’s faculty advisor Mr. Sohail Iqbal and ACM president Adil Jalil Chaudhry who gave their audience a general view of ACM, what it has done so far and what it plans to do in future but the speakers kept it precise sparing most of the time to ice- breaking session that was conducted with full spirit.

Observing ample participation from the members, this session turned out to be quite hilarious and entertaining. From strange Punjabi accents to summoning the spirit of Tahir shah it was truly a laughter ride and when a faculty member mimics the president of the society it’s a worth watch. Prizes were also distributed among the winners of the puzzle hunt event.

And lastly members were entertained with refreshments which no doubt were the primary motivation for the event. It started with cake cutting ceremony by the Mr. Sohail, with pizzas and drinks it turned out that ACM has a lot in store for its members as the refreshment was no ordinary one. Hats off to the décor and event management team who spared precious time from their busy schedules to bring about such a lively event.

 With council photo the students’ finally rushed back to their classes as the fun was over and awaiting them were their dreary routines ahead.

Written by : Maliha Raja

Photographers: 

Aayesha Arif

Aatrah Rauf

Maham Shahid