Murphy's Law... A Practitioners Approach!!!

Some of the readers might be quite inquisitive to know as to what on earth is this “Murpy’s Law”. But guys you’ll have to wait for some time before I tell you about one of the greatest laws on earth, ‘THE MURPHY’s LAW’

Now this is about the tech fest ‘Aranya’ in our college and a workshop called ‘Robotix’ where I came to know about Dear Uncle Murphy. We were a four member team, me(D),B ,C and S So I gave the name BCDs to the team. There were around 31 teams to attend the workshop. It was conducted by four guys from some TRI in Mumbai, the one who delivered the lecture was Ankit Mehta, an ex-meachanchi from IIT-Mumbai. Ankit was a ‘phenomenally kool guy’ wit dramatic epressions. Actually he used to refer every part of a robot as ‘guy’, ever situationm as ‘kool’ and each of his or anybody else's experiences as phenomenal. He, along with the team, had been a part of numerous international robotic competitions.

So it all began with some videos of robots being pictured on the screen and we were gasping over them, just like small kids are astounded to se an aeroplane flying in the air. Now that was the point where my ‘Dear Uncle Murphy’ made an entry.

According to Ankit Mehta, Murphy Law states that “Worse things happen in worse of the situations.” He supplementd his definition with an incidence of his own where they went to take part in an international competition and just before the event something happen, but in any case their team was the one to hear a 100 Decibel of applause.

Something about the workshop….. the boring lectures were made interesting by some videos(specially the last one where he showed us some pics of his experiences in the Robotic field). I came to know many things during the theory classes. Like the Tata took over corus for $8 Billion, and the turnover now has reached 23 million from a mere 5 million making tata the fifth largest company ( earlier it was placed at 56 ). And yea, for an acquisition it isn’t necessary that a big company takes over another big company.. (Courtesy: Business today on my desk during the theory classes ).

Okay now the best part of the workshop, the robot we made, it looked kind of crane. We started over with a bad luck when I cut down a belt given to me, and later came to knw that the belt was to be used as it is. In any case, the base was ready with not much difficulties (Waiting for Uncle Murphy??? Wait…. ) On second day of the workshop we were given another kit to add a manipulator to the base we made.(ie. The arm of the crane and a gear kind of system). We were the first ones to complete the job in the room. There was a feeling of joy tickling our heart and we took turns at the photo session with the Robot. Then came the name ceremony. B&C&S were thinking about various names, something like Robby, Bot, bla bla… I suggested adding two headlights to the model and S threw in the idea of hanging a bell around the neck….. ( yahan par maine kaha, yar iska naam hi billu rakh lo ) In the end he was given a decent name after the name of our instructor…. He was named Ankit…..

Anyways, today we had a competition with the model we made…. Uncle Murphy was somewhere around the corner. I spent 2 hours yesterday debugging our Ankit, and finally with a few uncleanable bugs I took Ankit to the college in morning at 9. But, Uncle Murphy let us know that the contest was at 2 pm. Kool, we had time to test Ankit under the pathetic Thapar Conditions, with hundred eyes staring at Ankit. Uncle Murphy had started the induction process with the following happenings…

• B & C were late as ever and left early as ever.

• The connections would go lose every 15 mins.

• I got a soldering wire from market and came back to college only to know that I had forgotten the soldering rod at home.
  

• The screws were to be adjusted every now and then.

• The belt on the wheel slipped off too frequently.

• And the worst of all, 15 mins before the contest I came to know that we had fir one part upside down…..

• A traffic jam made C late to the college.

In any case, after 4 hours of harsh testing, I took ankit to the Audi, where the contest was to be held. There were 30 teams registered for the event. Two rounds, we (using the Ankit) were to pick balls from a plate, and put it in another tray placed at a distance. Our turn came… I prayed God for success, then pleaded Uncle Murphy so that he may not interfere…. We qualified to the next round… Too thrilled, thanked God, Thanked Dear Uncle Murphy…

BUT, THE SECOND ROUND…. I prayed God, but made a BIG MISTAKE…. FORGOT TO PLEAD UNCLE MURPHY….

We were on the stage, the wires were joined in place, I tested it was fine…. Now 2 mins to put the pick the balls… the clock began, and so did uncle Murphy's job, Ankit refused to move… with a few throttles, he finally moved, but in installments (moving and stopping), I had a fear that a belt might come off the wheel, but our uncle had something else for us… I picked up 3 balls… 2 of 15 points each, and one of 5 points making it 35.. Good na??? That’s what we thought it to be… I successfully placed the balls in the destination tray, WoW.. that was the most amazing part of the game... S & C asked me to go back and pick another ball (I think that was uncle Murphy who asked). I put Ankit in reverse gear, he didn’t move, I gave a soft jolt, he finally moved and uncle Murphy Won… the reverse movement of Ankit, took with it 2, 15 pointer balls off the plate, and we were left with just 5 points, It was too late to get back and fetch another ball….. and too late for us to get back the prize we already had in our pockets… But never knew the uncle Murphy was a pickpocket….

I still hear the applause we deserved… And still feel the pain we experienced…

Jai Uncle Murphy…

God Bless!!!