REPORT ON ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

On the 8^th of February 2020, a One-Day Workshop on Artificial Intelligence was organised by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and facilitated by Professor Sharad Sinha and Professor Clint P. Gorge from the Indian Institute of Technology Goa (IIT Goa) for the students and faculties of Don Bosco College of Engineering. Dr. Sharad Sinha and Dr. Clint Pazhayidum George, Assistant Professors in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, IIT Goa were the resource persons for this workshop.

The workshop was divided into 4 sessions. The first two were held before lunch. First session was conducted by Dr. Sharad Sinha. He introduced key concepts on artificial intelligence; defining critical terms, capabilities as well as current limitations of AI. The second session was conducted by Dr. Clint P. George who explained key concepts of artificial intelligence. Basic algorithms were also covered during the session. Both the sessions also included multi-media resources to better elucidate key concepts.

Two hands-on sessions were conducted in the CAD/CAM Lab, building upon the knowledge and concepts learnt from the previous sessions. The two sessions were conducted by Dr. Clint P. George who was assisted by Dr. Sharad Sinha. The participants coded a basic AI algorithm using R programming language. The key concepts were introduced from the absolute basics as this workshop was designed to cater to participants with any skill level in coding. Multiple simplified examples of AI were coded.

The students showed keen interest in the workshop and have gained a hands-on experience in the topics of Artificial Intelligence.

Overall 39 students and 14 faculty members participated from different departments. This workshop was a good learning experience for the participants. They had the opportunity to familiarize themselves to AI using R programming language whilst also having the opportunity to interact with some of the best resource persons in the country. The workshop coordinator was Prof. Achintya Kambli and was assisted by Prof. Swapnil Ramani. The workshop convener was Prof. Ajit Salunke, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

During the valedictory function, the certificates were handed out by Dr. Neena S. P. Panandikar, Principal of DBCE and Rev. Fr. Kinley D’Cruz, Director of DBCE.