chennai this year shaastra the annual studentrun technical festival of iit madras promises an outofworld experience albeit virtually iitm students have developed a rendering of the campus in a futuristic martian landscape that will let participants travel between venues using a virtual hyperloop they can also visit landmarks on the campus through 3d navigation a virtual mars dome will be the platform for lectures events exhibition booths and interactive games the 22nd edition of shaastra with the theme code to chaos will be held from january 13 to 16 and have 50 eventsconducting shaastra virtually would not have the same impact as it would have if the event was held on campus but the team is trying to achieve a good traction by imagining different ways in which they can reach out virtually to provide students from iit madras as well as other institutions a good exposure on what is happening in the field of technology iitm director bhaskar ramamurthi said during a media interaction on tuesday many of the events are free to access for the public and the times of india is associated with shaastra this year toothe highlight of the festival is the shaastra summit a virtual conference which will focus on gaming and gaming technology this year from january 14 to 16 new additions include shaastra grand challenge a competition to find ways to tackle reallife problems workshops on trending topics like arduino internet of things robotics and ai the spotlight lectures will feature speakers including nobel laureates david wineland american physicist and pioneer in quantum computing stefan hall one of the directors of the max planck institute for biophysical chemistry in gottingen jane goodall founder of jane goodall institute and un messenger of peace and carolina marin spanish badminton player and olympic champion shaastra nights will feature illusionist and magician suhani shah and standup comedian biswa kalyan rath ratna kumar annabattula cocurricular advisor said the festival will host a cfi centre for innovation open house with displays of projects by students who can network and seek potential collaborators and mentors who can help take the products to the market