The best way to predict the future is to design it. Appreciating this quote by Abraham Lincoln, a bunch of students had strived for the betterment by aspiring for innovation. The same independent society of students, formed in 2003 as a name of the Locus is longing for organizing the education tech fair this year. Agreed to proceed with the theme of "Building smart city with ICT", the new Locus committee consented to organize the Locus 2018 event starting from Magh 19 (February 2). Showcasing some innovative hardware prototypes and software projects, the event will last for three days.Locus 2018 is just not about the three days event and to showcase the projects. Some pre-events are also organized by Locus to support and nurture the talents and intellectuality amongst all kind of students. With the theory-oriented teaching methodology prevailing in Nepal, Locus aspires to restore the craze for development and innovation in the students. And there are numerous events and pre-events (which we will discuss later) to give platforms for the students having different interests. So mark your calendar, iron your suit and polish your boots to prepare yourself to visit this largest innovative tech fair in Nepal. The entry fee for the event is completely free.

What is Locus?

As mentioned earlier, Locus is an independent group of students focused to encourage development and innovation in the nation. Pillared by the students of Computer, Electronics and Electrical departments of Pulchowk Campus, the organization aspires for the development of vocational education in Nepal. The organization was established in 2003, since then the organization hosts the tech fair every year in the courtyard of the IOE Central campus, Pulchowk. Locus comes with creative ideas every year to provide the platform for students to excel and demonstrate the hardware skills, software skills, and skills for logical reasoning. Themed as “Building smart city with ICT”, the Locus 2018 will focus on uprising the smart technologies, which would result in better and efficient daily activities. of the Locus 2018Locus committee targets to complete some of the initiatives and competition before the day marked for the main event. Such activities are Locus pre-events in the Locus dictionary. And below are the list of Locus pre-events along with their dates.

Energy Hackathon

The energy crisis is one of the burning issues in the present world. Even in Nepal, consumers are obliged to bottleneck the use of electricity. Without a proper plan, the curse of electrical energy crisis conjures darkness in the world in different ways. So, to cope with the inconveniences due to the electrical energy crisis and inefficient system, a proper planning and their appropriate implementation are crucial. And Energy Hackathon 2.0 is the pre-event of Locus 2018, which concentrations on finding the ways to cope with the prevailing energy problems.It is a five-day long event in which participants as a team encounter some kind of energy-related problems of Nepal, find the solution with the help of expert and present their solution. The team with the best presentation from each category is declared the winner. Alternative Energy, Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management are the three board categories for this year. This event is a perfect way to get more involved in the energy industry as well as a helpful platform to learn real-world challenges, generates ideas, meet energy specialists and win cash prizes.  The competition will be held from 21 January (Magh 7) at IOE Pulchowk Campus.Registration Fee: Rs. 1000 from each teamAccepted Team members: 2-4Registration Date: Poush 26 to Magh 4Prize Amount: Rs. 10,000Contact Person: Sagar Bimali (9843605233) | Swaechchha Dahal (9843133343) | Prabesh Neupane (9811858818)

Tech Debates

As the name implies, this pre-event focuses on debates and discussions of logic and intellectuality regarding the technology. In this pre-event, participants are expected to perform logical reasoning on the given topic. This will be in a similar pattern to World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) following the format of British Parliamentary Debate. This program will go on for three days starting from 6^th of Magh. And the mandatory number of participants in the team is two.Registration Fee: Rs. 1500 from each teamAccepted Team members: 2Registration Date: Poush 21 to Magh 1

Technical quiz competition for +2 students

Locus 2018 presents +2 & A level Inter College Technical Quiz Competition. It is one of the pre-events of the grand tech-festival LOCUS in which students will be putting their knowledge to test in different exciting rounds of the Quiz progression and the teams finishing on top will be awarded exciting prizes. This event is scheduled for 13^th of Magh.

Photography competition and workshop

Photography Competition is the event, where Locus inspires young photographers to capture the world through their lens. In its fourth edition, Locus Photography Competition challenges its participants to bring their best shots in the mentioned categories.It will be held on the days of main exhibition. Along with the main photography event, LOCUS organizes a pre-event “Workshop on Digital Photography”. The workshop includes the teaching of basic skills of photography. This workshop is scheduled from 7^th of Magh to 10^th of Magh.

Art Competition and Exhibition

LOCUS art competition is a pre-event where art enthusiasts participate to make arts on various themes. The best arts are shown in the art exhibition on the 3-days of main exhibition. The art competition will be held on 17^th of Magh.

Walkathon

Walkathon is another promotional event of LOCUS. This year walkathon will take place on 16^th of Magh (on Martyr’s day) with the theme “Walk for the Martyrs”. Every enthusiast are welcomed for the walkathon to show the devotion for the Martyrs.

Children in Technology

Children in Technology is a social initiative of Locus where a group of students of Pulchowk Campus will be teaching about the current technological development and providing a basic crash course on hardware and software to the secondary and higher secondary level students of different schools and colleges of the valley.

Hack-a-week

Hack-a-week is one of the pre-events being organized by LOCUS as a means to bring together developers, programmers, and tech-enthusiasts and stimulate them to get involved in a competitive and innovative challenge. Hack-a-week aspires to become a hub to amass a large number of enthusiasts coming from different disciplines working together to come up with impactful solutions in raging issues. It is a week-long event in which a number of innovative participants engage in teams of collaboration to fashion out some product in forms of software development, business modeling and ambitious marketing campaign, which revolves around one of the three themes. The competition will be held from 21 January to 28 January (Magh 7 to Magh 14) at IOE, Pulchowk Campus.Prize Amount: Rs. 15,000Contact Person: Anuj Poudel (9849933272) | Anup Pokharel (9847481555) | Enish Paneru (9843693075)

Code Jam

Code Jam is a competition in which many students and programmers participate to demonstrate their programming skill in the event. The participants are required to solve the given problems in given time. The online judging system without any bias selects the first 2 participants completing the challenge as the winners. This event is scheduled for 13^th of Magh.

Yomari Code camp

Code Camp is a comprehensive platform for students and young researchers to unleash their potential to develop their ideas into useful applications. Within a short interval of time, students are required to present their idea, frame it into a functional application using their skill-set, and justify their efforts to win the competition. The event is scheduled for the second and the third day of the main exhibition, ie: 20^th and 21^st of Magh.

Talk Show with motivational and inspirational figures

Various talk shows and interactive sessions with motivational personalities are held as a pre-event of LOCUS. The topics are mainly related to technology, entrepreneurship, professionalism, research methodology, etc.

MATLAB Simulation Competition

Before heading for the assembly of components or the development of hardware prototype, it is crucial to test if the system is free from flaws. And simulation is the way to make sure of it. Matlab software is one of the most powerful simulation software ever built. And to check the excellence in Matlab, Locus has presented simulation competition as the part of the Locus pre-event. This is a two-day pre-event starting from 20^th of Magh.

Locus 2018 Event attractions

Despite the numerous pre-events, the main event is what the Locus is renowned for. With the creative and innovative ideas showcased in the event, the environment is certainly going to be filled with technical awesomeness.The main event is an absolute platform for hardware and software competitions. The competitions are divided into the theme and non-themed category. All the hardware and software projects aiding in the renovation of society will be quarantined in the themed section and remaining in the non-themed section. The main event will start at 19^th of Magh and will run for three days. At the ending day i.e. 21st of Magh, all the winners of main events and the winners from the competitions of pre-events will be rewarded. Along with the hardware and software project competitions, there will also be some exciting competitions during the main events.

Dronacharya

The word Dronacharya comes from a mixture of two words-"Drone + Acharya" where Drone meaning the unmanned aerial vehicle and Acharya meaning Expert. It is a competition where participants should fly their drones tackling certain obstacles and going through various checkpoints to win the title. The event is scheduled on the first and third day of the main exhibition, ie: 19^th and 21^st of Magh.

Robo warz

Robo Warz is a war between two robots. The robots are vehicular with differential or omnidirectional drive. The game is about pushing the opponent robot outside the circular or hexagonal Arena. The Last Robot standing in the arena will be the winner of the game. The event is scheduled on the second day o the main exhibition, ie: 20^th of Magh.For more information regarding the Locus 2018 events and pre-events, you may dial one of the following numbers.Prasidha Karki, Co-ordinator– 9860167527Sampada Bhujel, Event Co-ordinator- 9856038388Basanta Chaulagain, Media Co-ordinator– 9849743206