Kumbhathon to focus on tech

NASHIK: City students, along with developers from across the country and abroad, gathered in Nashik on Saturday for a six-day event, the 'KumbhaThon' which would focus on usage of technology for effective management of the mega-religious congregation commencing from July 14. The students also identified more issues ailing the city and long-term solutions for them.
The fourth phase of the KumbhaThon went to the next level with a large number of developers from the national and international levels participating in the event. "Around 18 teams from Nashik developing technical solutions for Kumbh, along with technical experts from the IITs and other premier education institutes and other professionals have come together to find long-term solutions for the issues ailing the city," said Sunil Khandbahale, who ideated the concept based through voluntary participation.
The students are being guided by a team of entrepreneurs, industrialists, academicians as well as experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create social awareness and provide hand-on knowledge for developing the projects. Lavanya Addepalli, a research student from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, said, "I have come here to identify projects that could be undertaken on human and vehicular mobility. We are also trying to come up with some apps using social networking which would help locate lost persons during the congregation."
Another graduate student, Daniel Goodman from the MIT media lab, said the aim of the event was to work with all the teams and bring them on the right track to complete the projects in time. "Another aspect involves the development of entrepreneurial skills among the students and working towards the development of the city. Some of the projects might be too far from reaching the target in time; hence some aspects of the projects teams will have to compromised," Goodman said.
Arya Padte, manager with the Google developer group, said the simplest thing would be to come out with an android app for the user. However, the app has to be made considering other users too. "An app must be simple to use and focus should also be on having an alternative offline system as well," she said.
Padte further said the performance of an app during a critical scenario when numerous users would be using it simultaneously should also be considered.
Prajyot Mainkar, who is also a manager with the Google developer group, explained that the students should aim at creating apps that would consume the least amount of battery. "Apps can be more useful at the managerial and administrative level like at the police department and the district administration," Mainkar said.