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Recruitment Challenges

Project MANAS brings you the opportunity to fast-track into the TaskPhase by competing in the Recruitment Challenges.
MIT Students only from first year are eligible to apply for the same.

Eligible students can attempt the questions belonging to any division without requiring any pre-requisites.

You are recommended to apply for the interviews, over here, regardless of your submission of the Recruitment Challenge.

The deadline for the Recruitment Challenges of all divisions is

30th August 2025 at 11:59 PM.

Partial submissions are also encouraged.

Recruitment Challenges is one of the ways to get into the Taskphase. Alternatively, you can choose to apply directly for the interviews.

Artificial  Intelligence

The challenges for AI recruitments have been hosted on HackerRank. The challenges includes easy and hard challenges.

The challenge is live on- HackerRank

A Cloudy Day

Mrigaank and Vivek want to test our drone Freyjä for an upcoming competition. Unfortunately it begins to rain very heavily due to the sudden appearance of a large cloud. They realise that as the cloud moves, its size decreases due to the rain drops being released which occurs from its edges rather than its dense center. They further observe that the rate at which the rain drops release per second is equal to the magnitude of the cloud’s starting velocity.

They want to estimate how long the rain will last but, both have to meet the director of academics later due to their poor attendance and thus, can't afford to get wet. So, they decide to put a tarp on our bot Steve with a multispectral camera attached in order to check the same. However the bot’s camera was not calibrated properly and captures the entire overhead sky. Furthermore, it experiences a slight distortion which affects the accuracy of the initial estimation such that certain points given by the camera do not exist.

Assuming the cloud gains speed after releasing rain and that each droplet being released constitutes as a point within its structure, you must help determine how much space is available for testing the drone at a time ‘t’, so that Vivek and Mrigaank don’t miss their meeting and are allowed to write their end semester examinations.

(Note: No external force, such as air resistance, acts on the clouds and they move unidirectionally towards the right)

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Silent Strike

An approaching alien fleet takes the entire world by surprise. After months of failed attempts to halt its advance, Commander Mrigaank authorizes a desperate final measure: the launch of a powerful, untested muon ray gun, mounted on a missile and aimed directly at the enemy's mothership.

The alien formation consists of multiple smaller spacecraft (represented by 1’s) and one massive mothership (represented by 2’s), with empty space shown as 0’s. As the missile nears its target, the aliens activate an EMP device, temporarily disabling Earth's satellites and cutting off the missile’s navigation and communication systems, and making the propulsion system go haywire. Fortunately, the muon ray gun remains functional, protected by shielding.

In a last-ditch defense, the mothership calls nearby smaller ships to converge around it.

Now Earth is left in the dark, unsure whether the strike succeeded. However, just before the blackout, the missile managed to transmit a few final video frames showing alien ships directly ahead.

Chief Engineer Vivek briefs you on the missile's weapon system:

  • ● The missile’s view that it sends is a rectangular grid (the video frame), and the current position of the missile is the middle row of this view.
  • ● The muon ray gun can destroy everything along a vertical line (column) — from coordinate (0, h/2-2) to (0, h/2+2) (both inclusive). (i.e. in its view)
  • ● It can only fire twice before it components wear out.
  • ● It will fire if it senses any ships on its firing range(is checked every second)
  • ● The frames are transmitted with a 1 second delay


Your mission: Using the transmitted frames, determine whether the missile will:

  • ● Hit any smaller ships
  • ● Strike the mothership
  • ● Miss all targets entirely
(Assume 0 angular velocity and 0 angular acceleration)


The Glimmering Gate

In the hidden corners of Eldoria, a solitary threshold appears every hundred years. The ancients call it the Glimmering Gate, a door that opens with knowledge. Be careful; many doors look similar.

Traps throughout the glades resonate with magic: blessed, sealed, moonlit, runed, and more. Only one has the true sound. The Spirit of the Grove, silent unless called upon, may help you find out if an echo holds the right tone.

Your companion, a shimmering sprite, awakens at the rune-stone marked S. Its path is narrow. The woods dim its light. A stride drains the spirit once. A turn takes twice as much. Only the true Gate can restore what has been lost. Janak, with his hand outstretched, whispered the first word of the journey. One path. One chance. The forest was listening.



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Toxic Fog

Deep beneath the MIT Library, a secret research lab run by Project MANAS was experimenting with bio-chemicals to generate renewable energy. But due to an electrical overload (caused by someone running GTA 6 on the lab PC), a containment breach released toxic fog across campus. The fog is no longer a simple chemical cloud, it moves faster and spreads unpredictably. Luckily, the campus was recently equipped with autonomous evacuation bots. Your task is to simulate how the fog spreads and rescue as many civilians as possible using the bots within a given time window.

You must model:

  • ● The fog spread
  • ● Bot movement and civilian evacuation
  • ● Building obstructions
  • ● Survival within a limited time window


Orbital Whispers

Lately, strange white shapes the scientists have started calling phantoms have been appearing in a quiet field just outside town. They don’t travel in straight lines. Instead, they drift in slow, looping arcs as if circling something no one can see. Every few seconds, a drone captures a black and white image of the field. In these snapshots, 0 marks the ground and 1 marks the presence of something, usually a phantom. Frame by frame, the same shapes shift slightly, always tracing a gentle orbit. But not every white dot is a phantom. Some are just noise, tiny scattered bits that don’t follow any clear path. You’ll need to tune those out.

The scientists are hoping you can help. Look through the frames, follow the phantoms, and find the hidden centers they seem to be orbiting.



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Roadside Rescue

Following a sudden and unexpected fuel shortage, several members of Project MANAS, who were out to purchase parts, have found themselves stranded across the city. Om would typically drive out to rescue them, but he has a crucial interview to attend. It's now up to you to program the team's autonomous bot, S.T.E.V.E, to deliver emergency fuel to all the stranded cars.

S.T.E.V.E starts at the team's garage at location (0,0) with a limited battery charge. It can only make a certain number of movements before needing to return to the garage to recharge. Your task is to program Steve to refuel as many stranded MANAS members as possible within this battery limit.

The representation for the city map is as follows:

  • 0: Represents a traversable space.
  • 1: Represents an obstacle.
  • 2: Represents a stranded car that needs refueling.

Each movement to an adjacent cell uses 1 battery charge. Refueling a car (at the cells represented by 2) also uses 1 battery charge. The bot can only refuel a car once.

If there are multiple ways to refuel the maximum number of cars, prioritize the path that results in the minimum total battery charge consumed (i.e., the path with the fewest movements.)

Your output should be the coordinates of all the cars that are refueled in the order they are visited, followed by the complete path (sequence of coordinates) the bot takes from start, visiting the cars, and returning to (0,0).



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Demolition Man

Today is the big day, Vivek Vercetti and his friend Mrigaank Vance have worked tirelessly for months planning their attack on Asmit’s mansion. They have made a scouting drone Cleo along with their modified ground vehicle Steve to go out and place bombs according to the map of the mansion Mrigaank prepared in advance. Vivek was especially confident about the operation as he was sure that Cleo would thoroughly search all the free space in the mansion.

Moving on with their plan to scout for enemies and then send Steve to carry out the bomb placement, Vivek sets the clearance parameter of Cleo to 1 so that it always stays 1 unit away from any obstacles (which are also the targets). As Vivek puts in the activation code in the Base Station, and the waypoints for scouting the zone are calculated, Vivek hears a loud bang. Mrigaank blasted Steve to bits and ran away. Vivek heard him calling Asmit on the radio. He tried to run away with all the dynamites but their weight was too much for him to handle himself and some of them fell as he was trying to make his escape.

Looking over at the computer, all the data about the mission was wiped which must be the work of Mrigaank, Vivek thought. Thankfully, Vivek always had an inkling that Mrigaank was a double agent and so he had made Cleo to be able to carry payload over short distances. The only data left was the waypoints printed out on the console. Vivek thanked himself for writing all those print statements.

Now, while holding off the incoming goons, Vivek turns to you for help. You have to somehow use this little info and limited resources to plan a route for Cleo to place the Dynamites on the centroids of the targets while trying to destroy as much as possible. Due to Cleo being a scouting drone and having to carry the heavy dynamites, it can’t travel very far so the route should be as short as possible.



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Eyes in the Sky

During a drone surveillance mission over Manipal, Tanmay and Om detected mysterious graffiti appearing on walls throughout the city. Each image captured by the drone is a 100×100 pixel frame, represented as a 1D array of packed RGB values.

Through careful analysis, Asmit discovered that each image contains a 90×90 pixel poster, identifiable by four subtly placed orange reference points embedded in the scene. The poster isn’t always aligned perfectly,it can be tilted or skewed depending on the drone’s angle, requiring precise geometric correction to view it head on.

Within this corrected poster lies a single 5×5 grid, marked by a distinct red dot at its center. This grid isn’t just decorative,it encodes a three-letter hidden message using binary patterns.

Each image holds only one such encoded grid. Team Manas must locate the reference points, realign the poster, detect the red-centered 5×5 block, and decode the binary pattern hidden within. As the message spans multiple images, decoding and assembling all segments is the key to revealing the full message,before the graffiti fades from Manipal’s walls forever.



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Submission

The solutions will be accepted only through the HackerRank website.

For any queries related to recruitments, feel free to contact (Preferably via Whatsapp):

Asavari
+91 9999736682

Chirag Rao
+91 7028152399

Sensing And Automation


Hardware Recruitment Challenge


Aryan’s Gatekeeper Circuit

Aryan has a habit of forgetting his lab locker code. To fix this, he decides to build a secure system that only unlocks (lights up an LED) if the correct sequence of actions is followed. But Aryan being Aryan, doesn't want to use microcontrollers, latches, or flip-flops because, “real engineers don’t hide behind ICs.”

Instead, he’s decided to build a logic-lock system using pure analog timing behavior, mostly capacitors, resistors, and some clever voltage shaping. You’re going to help him build a system so fiendishly elegant that even the TAs won’t guess how it works.

Problem Statement:

Design a circuit where:

  • ● There are three input pushbuttons: A, B, and C. Pressing them in the exact order A → B → C lights up an LED. If the buttons are pressed in the wrong order, or if the user waits too long between presses, the system resets to the beginning. Add a fourth button (D) that resets the system manually at any time.
  • ● All behavior must come from capacitor charging/discharging, transistor switching, logic gates, op-amps, and passive components.


Constraints:

You may use basic electronic components (Op-Amps, resistors, capacitors, diodes,MOSFETs etc) No clock sources or digital memory blocks (like D flip-flops, shift registers, etc.) The system must reset if an incorrect sequence is detectedThe capacitors need to be polarized and should have high leakage current

Bonus Task (optional): Make the unlock LED stay ON for 5 seconds and then reset automatically

What to Submit:

  • ● Your simulated circuit file
    Use Falstad.com or any equivalent of your choice
  • ● A short documentation PDF or writeup covering:
    How your sequence detection logic works, how capacitor timing is used to reset state, what each stage does, etc

Embedded Systems Recruitment Challenge

Shubh and Taman’s Smart auraFarming Setup

Shubh recently started a small rooftop garden to grow vegetables and herbs, but between college deadlines and unpredictable weather, keeping the plants alive has become a full-time job.

Taman, his lazy friend and a tinkerer in embedded systems, proposed a simple but effective solution: automate the entire process. No more forgotten watering days or overheating plants.

Together, they’ve outlined a plan for a smart agriculture assistant. Your task is to help them bring it to life using Arduino UNO R3 in a simulation software of your choice or use the one provided below:

wokwi.com

Requirements:

You are to build and simulate a smart plant monitoring system that performs the following tasks:

1. Soil Moisture-Controlled Irrigation

  • ●Monitor soil moisture using a soil moisture sensor.
  • ●If the soil is too dry, activate a servo motor to open a water valve.
  • ●Once the soil is moist again, the valve should close.

2. Temperature Monitoring with Visual Feedback

  • ●Use a temperature sensor to measure ambient temperature
  • ●Display temperature conditions using an RGB LED:
    • •Blue if the temperature is too cold
    • •Green if the temperature is within the ideal range
    • •Red if the temperature is too hot
    Ensure the RGB LED toggles PWM duty cycle in proportion to soil moisture, during night only
  • Ideal temperature ranges will depend on whether it is day or night.
    • Ensure the RGB LED toggles PWM duty cycle in proportion to soil moisture, during night only

3. Day/Night Detection with a Photoresistor

  • ●Use a photoresistor (LDR) to detect whether it is day or night.
  • ●Adjust temperature thresholds for the RGB LED accordingly:
    • •Day: Ideal range is 21–27°C make the ideal range for night 0-10°C
    • •Night: Ideal range is 15–20°C

Submission Instructions

  • ●Provide a link to your simulated project(it should be accessible).
  • ●Adjust temperature thresholds for the RGB LED accordingly:Include a short document explaining: How the system works, Justification of components chosen
  • ●Comment your code Properly.

If Shubh and Taman can get this working, they might finally grow something other than disappointment. Your solution could be the one that gets their garden (and their semester) back on track.



2) Akshat's Midlife Crisis on The LED Highway

Akshat has been stuck in traffic one too many times. Instead of venting on social media, he decided to do what any normal embedded systems enthusiast would: simulate the chaos using LED (or LED strips) and an Arduino.

His goal is to build a pixel-based game where a green pixel (the player) tries to survive an endless onslaught of red pixels (oncoming cars) in a constant stream of traffic. With just three buttons and a few logic tweaks, he wants to make something fun, challenging, and impossible to play.

Your challenge is to help Akshat turn this idea into a working prototype. Submit a simulation using Arduino UNO R3 in a simulation software of your choice or use the one provided below:

wokwi.com

Objective

Create an LED-based traffic dodging game using Arduino, with the following functionality:

Components

  • ●LED’s or LED strips, each arranged in a 5x10 matrix (rows x columns minimum). You're free to expand the size.
  • ●3 Push Buttons:
    • •Button 1: Move the player up
    • •Button 2: Move the player down
    • •Button 3: Reset the game

Game Rules

  • ●The green pixel is the player, controlled via UP/DOWN buttons.
  • ●Red pixels are traffic cars, moving from right to left across the screen (you can change the layout).
  • ●At regular intervals, a lane of red pixels is generated.
  • ●These lanes must be randomly generated.
  • ●Each lane must have at least one empty space, ensuring the game is always solvable.
  • ●The player must move between lanes to avoid collisions.
Example: https://youtu.be/WJmmKyp29gA

Timing Logic

  • ●The game must include tuneable timing intervals:
    • •Lane generation interval – controls how often new traffic lanes appear
    • •Player movement interval – controls how frequently the player can move

These values should be easy to change in code to control difficulty. Define a PIXEL_GRAVITY constant and integrate it into movement logic.

Game Over Condition

  • ●If the green pixel touches a red pixel, it's Game Over..
  • ●When this happens, freeze the game or display a game over animation. Use the reset button to restart

Bonus: Score Feature

  • ●Add a score counter that increases with each new lane survived.
  • ●You can use the serial monitor or any LED-based indicator to display the score.

Bonus: Score Feature

  • ●Add a score counter that increases with each new lane survived.
  • ●You can use the serial monitor or any LED-based indicator to display the score.

Submission Requirements

  • ●You may use the random() function for lane generation.
  • ●Provide a link to your simulated project.
  • ●Short explanation of logic (especially timing & collision handling)
  • ●Comment your code properly.

Automation Recruitment Challenge

Internship

Soham has just landed an internship at SkyFleet Robotics, a cutting‑edge automation company pioneering the future of autonomous drone deliveries in smart townships. His first assignment seemed straightforward—schedule delivery flights—but it turns out to be a logistical puzzle laden with spatial and temporal complexity.

Scenario:

You will be provided with a list of house availability intervals. Each house has its own availability window for delivery. Soham needs an algorithm that completes all deliveries in the fewest flights possible, while respecting both timing and map-based constraints.

The drone can deliver to multiple houses in one flight, but with strict constraints:

  • ●The drone takes a variable amount of time to travel between any two delivery points, depending on their positions on the map.
  • ●The first delivery of a flight can happen at any time within the recipient's availability window.
  • ●However, every subsequent delivery in that flight must occur exactly after the travel time (buffer) to the next house.
  • ●The drone cannot idle between deliveries. If the next house is not available exactly after that buffer time, the flight terminates, and a new flight is launched from base.
  • ●Parallel drones are not allowed; one must terminate to launch the next one.
  • ●The drone is not allowed to step on the house cells; it can deliver while being adjacent to the west of house cells.
  • ●Variable Buffer Times
    • •The houses are placed in a snake pattern, with a one cell gap between them.
    • •Calculate travel time between any two houses with the fixed speed of 1 cell = 3 minutes. (1 step = 1 cell)
    • •This becomes the buffer between consecutive deliveries.
  • ●Wind Hazard on Open Rows
    • •The gust of winds flows from East to West.
    • •In the rows without houses, every 5 steps of flight, triggers a gust that pushes the drone 4 steps west (after being affected by the wind the drone automatically takes cover behind the closest house), unless the drone is aligned directly behind a house at that moment (using the house as a “shield”).
    • •The automatic movement and the steps taken towards west due to getting caught by the wind have no time weightage, it only changes the position of the drone.
    • •Drone can use ‘WAIT’ to not change its position, but that will also count as a step and time will be added.
    • •After every delivery the countdown for wind resets.
    • •The drone cannot go out of the city, even with wind acting on it.

Each balcony is located at the west of each house and is equipped with an AprilTag marker. The drone uses a downward facing camera to detect these markers and align for delivery. The drone should hover above the marker 2 meters and not overshoot.

Soham needs your help to build a delivery scheduler that finds the minimum number of drone flights required to complete all deliveries.


Example Set:

House 1    10:00 - 10:30
House 2    12:15 - 13:30
House 3    11:30 - 12:30 
House 4    13:30 - 14:00 
House 5    11:00 - 13:00
House 6    5:00 - 16:30
House 7    12:45 - 13:15
House 8    09:30 - 10:30
House 9    16:00 - 17:00 
House 10   4:00 - 15:00

The map of the city may look like this; houses will always be arranged in a (2 x m) fashion:

Map of the city

Tasks:

1. Delivery Scheduler

Develop a Python or C-style algorithm that plans the drone delivery schedule while minimizing the number of flights. Your solution should:

  • ●Take in a list of delivery availability windows for each house.
  • ●Make a grid map (like the example given above) with house positions to calculate travel times (buffer) between any two houses.
  • ●Outputs the number of drone flights needed. The algorithm should calculate the number of flights efficiently and try to minimize it.
  • ●In each flight the Drone may start from any point.
  • ●Output each flight’s delivery sequence in the format:
    • •(House Number, Time of Delivery) in order.
  • ●Ensure the logic accounts for variable buffer times between each house pair
  • ●Specifies which deliveries are grouped in each flight and at what time. Generates a list which consists of the house number and time of delivery in order. Also specify the time it takes between two houses.

2. Flight Control Strategy

Explain how the drone should maintain a stable position while delivering. Include how the sensors help the drone stabilize, hover at 2 meters above the marker, and avoid overshooting. Additionally, consider how the drone should respond to wind gusts in open rows — e.g., by positioning behind a house when anticipating a gust.

3. Sensor Suite Justification

The drone should be able to detect and avoid the air traffic caused by third party drones; it should be able to detect the balconies and drop the package accurately over the markers.

The drone should be able to detect and avoid the air traffic caused by third party drones; it should be able to detect the balconies and drop the package accurately over the markers.

List and justify the essential sensors the drone must be equipped with to operate in this delivery environment. Your answer must include:

  • ●Navigation and path planning sensors.
  • ●Altitude control sensors.
  • ●Communication sensors.
  • ●Detection sensors.
  • ●Sensors for maintaining 2 meters above balcony markers. The system should also help in mitigating wind-related displacements, navigating map constraints, and making precise deliveries despite environmental disturbances.

2) Last Light Landing

Dr. Akshat is field-testing a fleet of semi-autonomous drones in an off-grid zone where battery management is critical. The terrain is modelled as a rectangular grid and embedded within the tiles are solar-assisted wireless charging pads. These charging pads vary in strength (20 - 100), and the drone must land on one with high charging potential before nightfall cuts off visibility and power.

The drone is not allowed to probe individual tiles. Instead, it can perform statistical scans over rectangular regions. To scan an area, the drone must physically fly to the bottom-left corner of the intended rectangle and then submit the coordinates of the diagonally opposite top-right corner.

Each scan reveals the sum, median and mode of the charging values of all the tiles in the selected region.

Due to terrain constraints, the drone can only move in Fibonacci step lengths during traversal. Each movement, whether horizontal or vertical, must be composed of a sequence of step sizes from the Fibonacci series. The drone must try to minimize the total number of such Fibonacci steps used while traversing. Repetition of numbers is not allowed; your number list resets when a turn is executed.

Your task is to assist Dr. Akshat in designing a strategy to locate a tile with charging capacity greater than or equal to a given threshold T. The drone needs to only land on any one such tile. If no tile meets the criteria, the mission must be aborted.

The challenge is to minimize the number of scans required to complete the mission.

Tasks:

  • ●Algorithm Design: Propose an algorithm that efficiently identifies a valid tile (charging ≥ T) using the fewest scans possible. Incorporate logic to minimize the number of Fibonacci steps taken between scan points. Provide a clean Python/C-style implementation.
  • ●Implementation Considerations: Discuss how to prioritize scan regions, when to request additional statistics.
  • ●Control System: Devise a control protocol for navigating the drone to scan points, managing movement and scan operations, and issuing the landing decision. Explain how the sensors help the drone stabilize and hover.
  • ●Sensor Suite: List and justify the essential sensors the drone must be equipped with to operate in this environment.



Submission

The solutions need to be submitted along with your details via email to : projectmanas.sna@gmail.com

NOTE: The submissions over mail need to be accompanied with the following details:

  1. Full Name
  2. Registration Number
  3. Branch
  4. Contact Number

For any queries, please feel free to contact (Preferably Whatsapp):

Aryan Pagaria
+91 84201 49582

Akshat Kakade
+91 91759 51663

Mechanical

The challenges are divided into two parts, Mechanics and Design. The challenges are meant to test your innovative skills as well as your basics in Mechanical and Mathematics.

Mechanics

EASY

It is late afternoon on the Student Plaza. Professor Heisenberg, a world-renowned expert on drone engineering, checking out the delivery drone. Jesse another engineer is stowing a 900 g payload into the cargo bay on a quadcopter. The mission is to fly from Student Plaza to Block 16, an 800 m outbound trip and 800 m back, with a 50 m climb on take-off and a 50 m descent on landing. Upon arriving over Block 16, the drone deposits the payload and then begins the trip back.

The total loaded mass on the drone is 5.0 kg, including the payload. It has a maximum hover power capability of 120 W per propulsion unit, and the maximum power output from its batteries is 750 W(k =0.58 for Phover). Its cruise speed is 12 m/s, and it achieves this speed from a hover in 5 s. The drone has a 0.80 drag coefficient, a 0.40 m2 frontal area, a 1.225 kg/m3 air density, and a 9.81 m/s2 gravitational acceleration.

The outbound journey is exacerbated by a steady 4 m/s crosswind and a +1 m/s wind gust, but everything else is normal. The inbound journey has a 2 m/s headwind and a -1 m/s wind gust. The only tilt is to balance the aerodynamic drags during the cruise, maintain a steady height during horizontal motion, and there are no other losses besides those over and above the drags and thrust needed.

The task is to determine, for each mission segment—hover/climb, acceleration, outbound cruise, return cruise, and descent—and for each wind case :

  • ● The cruise tilt angle, per-rotor thrust, and total mission energy.
  • ● The peak power draw under the worst-case gust conditions, and compare it to a 600 W limit. If the power exceeds this limit, propose three concrete mitigation strategies.

MEDIUM

Ethan Hunt is researching a spherical submersible for a deep-sea infiltration. The submersible, with a radius of 1.4 m and a density of 1025 kg/m3, is being tested while anchored to the seafloor by a steel cable of some length. The cable can withstand 9.4 x 10^4 N.

The submersible is initially stationary, but a sudden undersea current of *5.63 m/s* exerts a steady drag force at an angle of 22 degrees from the horizontal. The submersible's drag coefficient is 0.47, and the water density is 1030 kg/m3.

  • ● Find the angle of deflection of the sphere from its initial position.
  • ● Find the magnitude of force which will drive this deflection.
  • ● Find out if the cable will break or not.

HARD

In the backyard of their suburban home, Yash and Anup are working on their latest invention, a spherical drone. In a fault scenario, it could fall directly onto a critical component protected by a specialized pedestal.

The drone is a solid sphere of a known radius. Its density is not uniform; it increases linearly from zero at its exact center to a maximum value at its surface. During this test failure, the drone is observed to be falling. At the moment it first makes contact with the pedestal, it is moving at a known downward speed.

The drone lands on a "Parabolic Damper," which has a known initial height and a known circular base radius. The damper is a solid of revolution, generated by rotating a parabola about its central vertical axis.

The damper is made of a proprietary composite with a two-stage compression behavior:

  • ● Stage 1: For applied forces up to a certain threshold force, the material behaves softly. In this stage, the reduction in its volume is directly proportional to the applied force.
  • ● Stage 2: If the applied force exceeds this threshold, the composite hardens. The totalvolume reduction is then calculated as the volume reduction at the threshold force,plus an additional volume reduction for the force exceeding the threshold. This additional reduction is also directly proportional to the excess force, but with a different, smaller proportionality constant.

Derive a system of equations that would allow you to solve for the maximum compression distance the Parabolic Damper experiences during the impact event. Your derivation must start from first principles. You must clearly define all variables, constants, and any key modelling assumptions you make.

Design

EASY

Preet , a mechanical engineering prodigy from MIT Manipal, returned to his village after many years. On the way, he had to cross a bridge that connects his village to nearby settlements. The bridge was badly sagged, twisted, and in such poor condition that it could collapse at any moment.

Determined to help, Preet decided to take on the challenge of designing a new bridge. The bridge must safely support at least 20 people at a time and withstand crowding at any point along its span without excessive sagging or instability.

Your task is to design the geometry of the bridge, explain your design choices, and provide a rough sketch that illustrates your proposed structure.

MEDIUM

Our latest drone model, the “IRIS” has a critical design requirement: in the event of a crash, the battery mount must be able to protect the battery from impact. This design protects the expensive carbon fiber frame and sensitive onboard electronics from the impact forces transferred by the heavy battery.

Your task is to design this battery mounting system. The goal is not just to create a functional part, but to develop a well-reasoned design solution that balances conflicting requirements.

HARD

Design a recovery system for a fixed wing UAV which automatically activates during an engine failure/power loss without any electronics (all electronics may fail), pre- programmed landing sequence, parachutes or any stored energy springs, compressed gas) except for gravity. The design should work even if the fixed wing is upside down. The mechanism should also be reusable without any manual repairs.



Submission

Submit the design files, word docs, pictures or videos to  projectmanas.mechanical@gmail.com.

NOTE: These questions can be either solved in a CAD software (Fusion 360, Solidworks, etc.) or the idea can be presented as a neat sketch explaining it in maximum details. The submissions over mail need to be accompanied with the following details:

  1. Full Name
  2. Registration Number
  3. Branch
  4. Contact Number

For any queries, please feel free to contact (Preferably Whatsapp):

Bhuvan Rayani
+91 9111508999

Anup Kamath
+91 9560526170

Management

Instructions:
To be considered for the task phase, each candidate needs to attempt the tasks specified under the categories Admin and Finance, Research and Graphic Design.
At least one of the tasks of the other categories (Video Editing and Web Development) must be attempted. These questions are an alternative method of entry into the Project MANAS taskphase, apart from the interviews.

Admin and Finance*

Project MANAS is participating in the IGVC 2026 competition at Oakland University, Michigan, USA. Create a plan for the logistics and accommodations for a team of 15 people attending the competition. As part of the management subsystem, outline the logistics, including accommodation, travel and hospitality, and create a comprehensive budget plan, justifying all decisions for budget allocation. Take into consideration the most efficient and cost-effective strategies for renting and utilizing trucks in the USA for transporting competition parts, considering factors such as truck sizes, rental policies, insurance requirements, and potential logistical challenges.
NOTE: You have been provided with all the details 6 months before the trip .

Research*

Project MANAS requires 8 motors fulfilling the following specifications for the drone:

  • ●Stepper Motor
  • ●Size : Nema 24
  • ●Number of phases: 2
  • ●Holding Torque: min of 4.0Nm
  • ●Encoder Type: Optical Incrementa
  • ●Purpose: for Holonomic ground vehicle


Your task is to research two companies (ideally one international and one indigenous) that manufacture a motor that meet the above mentioned specifications. The research must include, but not be limited to the following pointers:

  1. Company's product reliability
  2. Company’s partners and customers
  3. Company’s Location (considering shipping and delivery)
A company that meets the best fit among the above mentioned criteria needs to be shown, along with a properly structured plan on how the same will be purchased.

Graphic Design*

You have to do at least one of the two tasks mentioned below:

Design an Instagram carousel post (4–8 slides) in the aesthetic of Minecraft, themed around: “How to Survive Your First Year in College - Minecraft Edition” Be creative and visually immersive, the post should feel like a crossover between real-life college advice and in-game Minecraft visuals.

Each slide must include:

  • ●Pixelated design elements
  • ●In-game inspired fonts (like Minecraftia or custom pixel fonts)
  • ●Consistent layout and color palette (grass, dirt, inventory bar, XP bar, mobs, etc.)
  • ●Provide real life advice, but through game mechanics (e.g., “Craft Your Social Circle”, “Avoid Creeper Energy”, “Food = Sleep + Maggi”)

Use photo-editing or vector tools to bring in real screenshots, manipulated textures, or create original Minecraft-style illustrations.


Option B (Alternate):

Design a visually engaging travel dump Instagram post that captures the essence of a recent trip while showcasing your photo editing and graphic design skills. The post should consist of 4 to 8 slides, each creatively enhanced with design elements, overlays, filters, and visual storytelling.

You are recommended to use Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Figma to complete the task. If you choose to use any other software, mention its name in your submission.

Installing Illustrator(For Windows users):
https://getintopc.com/softwares/graphic-design/
adobe-illustrator-cc-2020-free-download-1062480/

Installing Illustrator(For Mac ):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/
1J2lLsf-_aqYtfPwKJ-fAWPFkTrG7z54W?usp=sharing

NOTE: Upload a drive link consisting of all your previous work related to Graphic Design (if any).

Videography

  • Create a video titled “A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN MIT STUDENT” Decide on the main character (could be yourselves or a peer).

    Focus on creativity, smoothness of transitions, and overall video quality.
    • ●Outline the day: Include typical routines like morning prep, attending classes, social time, meals at the canteen, extracurriculars, and evening wrap-up.
    • ●Choose 3-5 key moments that bring out emotions (funny encounters, challenges, memorable events) and transition points (from classes to free time, from hustle to chill)

The video should:

  • ●Include at least 4 campus locations
  • ●Use quick jump cuts and energetic transitions to mimic trending Instagram styles
  • ●Ensure the music matches the emotions and pacing of the scenes—softer tones during chill times, dynamic beats for active moments.
  • ●Be edited with fast cuts, match cuts or clever transitions
  • ●Maintain the Originality, relatability, influence on the viewer.
You SHOULD use either of the following applications to edit these videos.


For Windows:

1. Premiere Pro
https://getintopc.com/softwares/video-editing/
adobe-premiere-pro-2022-free-setup-download/
2. DaVinci Resolve
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/
davinciresolve

For Mac:

1. Premiere Pro
https://www.torrentmac.net/final-cut-pro-10-6-1/
2. Final Cut Pro
https://www.torrentmac.net/adobe-premiere-pro-2021-v15-4-1/
2. DaVinci Resolve
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/
davinciresolve

NOTE: Upload a drive link consisting of all your previous work related to Video Editing (if any). If you use any other software, mention its name in your submission.

Web Development

Task: Build a Basic Homepage for "Little Lemons" Restaurant

Objective:

Create a clean, responsive homepage for a fictional restaurant named Little Lemons using HTML and CSS. JavaScript for small interactions is optional.

Requirements:

  1. Header Section
    • ●Restaurant name: Little Lemons
    • ●Navigation bar with at least 3 links: Home, Menu, Contact
    • ●Background color or image that fits a restaurant theme
  2. Hero Section
    • ●Large welcoming heading: "Fresh. Flavorful. Little Lemons."
    • ●Short tagline/description (e.g., "Serving fresh Mediterranean flavors every day.")
    • ●"Reserve a Table" button
  3. About Section
    • ●A brief paragraph about the restaurant’s story
    • ●An image of fresh lemons or a dish
  4. Menu Preview Section
    • ●Display 3 featured dishes with:
      • •Dish name
      • •Short description
      • •Price
  5. Footer
    • ●Contact information (address, phone, email)
    • ●Social media icons/links (optional)

Bonus (Optional)

  • ●Try using React
  • ●Make the page responsive using CSS Flexbox or Grid
  • ●Add hover effects to buttons and menu items
  • ●Include a Google Map embed of the restaurant location in the footer

Deliverable

A single-page website (or starter template) meeting the requirements above. Include any images in the images/ folder and a separate style.css file.



Submission

Email your answers and videos to projectmanas.management@gmail.com.

NOTE: The submissions over mail need to be accompanied with the following details:

  1. Full Name
  2. Registration Number
  3. Branch
  4. Contact Number

For any queries, please feel free to contact (Preferably Whatsapp):

Bedobrata Saikia
+91 93878 61692

Samya Kalsi
+91 73473 85285

Get in Touch

Phone

  • Gaurav Pradeep ( Technical Head ) :
  • +91 9108168772
  • Nikillan Rajesh ( Team Manager ) :
  • +91 8925511500
  • Nirbhay Aher ( R & D Head ) :
  • +91 7977017314

Address

Connect