Robot Band Exhibition at Maker Mela 2024 　 　
　 Report of Maker Mela 2024. 　
　
　

　
　 Maker Mela is an event held every year in Mumbai, India. I have participated online in the past. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHx8HdnX2Ns)
The organizer is Somaiya Vidyavihar University, an engineering university.
In India, I have previously exhibited at IIT Kharagpur and Guwahati campuses.
Travel to India will be at my own expense, but the organizer will take care of transportation from the airport to the university, lodging, and meals, etc.		 　
　



　

 　
　 Fly to India with Singapore Airlines, connecting from Kansai Airport to Singapore and from Singapore to Mumbai. Since my baggage must be up to 25kg, it consisted of 3 self-playing robots and a fortune-telling robot. I couldn't bring a communication robot with object recognition.
A visa is required to enter India, but I can enter Mumbai using an electronic visa called ETA. Applied online and printed it out myself.
When I was at IIT, it was hard since my luggage was scanned, a dog came to sniff the robots, and some photo were taken. But this time I just showed my passport and passed without saying a word. . Baggage checks are supposed to be strict, but to my surprise, They only scanned my laptop and backpack, and my suitcase was exempted from having to be scanned. I think the staff member have it and found it too heavy, so he decided not to put it on the conveyor belt. (The person in front of me was scanning the suitcase.)
Two staff members (probably university staff) came to pick me up at the airport. 		　
　



　

 　
　 The two IIT I went to before were both located in quite rural areas, and the traffic conditions were terrible. But this time Mumbai is a pretty big city, so I expected it to be different, but the situation was the same.
There were terrible traffic jams even though it's late at night, with very little distance between cars and no lanes at all. Horns are always honking. The only difference was that there were less trucks this time, and there were a lot of three-wheeled vehicles called rickshaws.		 　
　



　

 　
　


　

 　
　 When I was at IIT, I stayed at a guest house where researchers stayed, but this time it was a student dormitory. A cafeteria and gym are located within the building.
The meals were basically curry, and it seemed like Indians do not eat much at night, so it was a simple meal compared to breakfast.
There were three beds in the room, but no one else was there. (I remember sharing a room with strangers when I was at IIT. It was fun though...) The building is close to the venue.		 　
　

　
　 It's not a big university. There are various objects on campus. The tree is painted in colors similar to the Indian flag. 　
　


　

 　
　


　

 　
　 There was a chess set in the park. 　
　



　

 　
　 Rickshaws are running. 　
　



　

 　
　



　

 　
　 There are a lot of dogs on campus for some reason. It may be for security purposes, as it is sometimes accompanied by security guards. It is very scary because  if I am bitten by a mammal, it will be the end. (Even though I have vaccinated against rabies.) 　
　



　

 　
　 The venue was in a tent with about 100 booths. The size of the booth is approximately 180cm. 　
　



　

 　
　 There was a tree behind the booth and there were lots of mosquitoes. I asked the staff to provide mosquito repellent spray because the bites can cause an infection with a high fever. 　
　



　

 　
　 Fortune-telling is very popular in India. The paper I brought with me ran out on the first day, so I asked the staff to add more on the second day. I think I probably did it 600 to 800 times. The extra paper ran out, and in the end, it used the notebooks and other items that visitors had brought with them to make fortunes. 　
　





　

 　
　 Many children came. So many of them were squeezing the table, I thought they were going to rush into the booth. Children were competing for fortune paper. . . 　
　



　

 　
　 When there were too many people, I saw people voluntarily forming lines. This is the first time I've seen a line outside of Japan. 　
　



　

 　
　 There was a maker party on the first night. Although it's called a party, alcohol is prohibited on campus, so there were no drinks or snacks, just watching.
The stage featured musicians and performers from across the university.		 　
　



　

 　
　

On the third day, there were no exhibits, but rather a lecture and an award ceremony. There was a video contest in which students participated, and a video of my booth taken by a student won some award.

 　
　



　

 　
　 I didn't have anything to do until night, so I wandered around. Strict security checks are conducted at the entrances and exits. I gave up on going out into the city because it seemed like it would be a hard to come back if I went off campus. 　
　



　

 　
　

There are a lot of security guards on campus, and they all gathered together for some kind of morning assembly. There are security guards not only at the entrances and exits of the campus, but also at the entrances of each building to check people entering and exiting.

 　
　



　

 　
　 There were several restaurants like this. 　
　



　

 　
　 Apparently it's always crowded.
It was a bit inconvenient that there was no convenience store, so I couldn't easily buy snacks, stationery, and other things I needed.		 　
　



　

 　
　 Two staff members also took me to the airport on my way back. They seemed to be employees of a Fab Lab on campus, and said one of them had participated in a project with Ted from Taiwan and Dale from Maker Faire.
Usually, leaving the country is easier than entering the country, but in this case, leaving the country was more difficult.
I needed to show my ticket to enter the airport building. The baggage was rigorously scanned, and I was asked to explain the robot I had in my backpack.
If I got stuck, I had to go back in line and start over, which took a lot of time. At immigration, I was asked about the purpose and frequency of my trip to India. I understand that they ask about the purpose of travel when entering the country, but this time, not when entering the country but when leaving the country...		 　
　



　

 　
　 I ate tacos at the airport. After all, tacos are the most delicious food in the world.
I was nervous because I only had a 50 minute transfer in Singapore, but I managed to make it in time.