When was the last time a bar talk decoded how geometry and symmetry govern the natural and engineered world? When was the last time a bar talk explored what cats, astronauts and cars can teach us about the mathematics of movement?

"The sum of the squares of the lengths of the sides of a right angle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse."

We learn Pythagoras by heart, and we regurgitate the above statement on answer sheets in closed exam halls and venues. But what if this right-angled triangle is pasted and fitted onto the surface of a sphere? What would we see? Would our perceptions change ? How would the world appear if we kept moving on a sphere? From falling cats to parallel parking cars to tumbling tennis rackets to manoeuvring astronauts to agile drones, geometry and symmetry governs us everywhere. It is lurking behind all these phenomena - a few natural and a few engineered. If we realized this, our joy of learning science and engineering would increase many fold. The irony is that this visually appealing and aesthetically-pleasing geometry is often hidden behind its symbolic manifestation - mathematical machinery, formulae and notation. In this talk I shall describe many such phenomena and gently and mildly introduce the geometry behind them.

Welcome to Pint of View, Pune’s first-ever community where cutting-edge research meets craft cocktails, where curious minds gather over drinks to unravel the threads of human culture.

We're delighted to present Dr. Ravi N Banavar, a Professor of Systems & Control Engineering at IIT Bombay. He received his B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras (1986), his Masters (Mechanical, 1988) and Ph.D. (Aerospace, 1992) degrees from Clemson University and the University of Texas at Austin, respectively. His research in robotics and aerospace control drives innovation in intelligent systems. You can find his faculty page at this link.

What to Expect:

🚘 🐈 45-minute lecture about what cats, astronauts and cars can teach us about the mathematics of movement

🎤 30 minutes of interactive Q&A with the speaker

🍺 One complimentary Moonshine Mead or Regular Mocktail included with your ticket

This isn't your typical university lecture. Think storytelling circle energy, cozy pub atmosphere, and groundbreaking scientific research – all woven into one unforgettable evening.

Event Details:

📅 Sunday, 20th Sept | 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

📍Malaka Spice, Koregaon Park

💰 Early bird pricing available for first 10 tickets

About the Lecturer: Dr. Ravi N. Banavar holds a Ph.D. from UT Austin. He had a brief teaching stint at UCLA during 1991–92, soon after which he joined the Systems and Control Engineering group at IIT Bombay in early 1993. From 2009 onwards, during his tenure as the Convener of the group, the faculty strength grew with a broad spectrum of academic strengths in nonlinear control, switched systems, optimization, geometric mechanics, formation and cooperative control, robotics and adaptive control. He was an Associate Editor of the Elsevier journal, Systems and Control Letters from 2013 to 2025. His current research interests lie in: Optimal control on Lie Groups, geometric mechanics, nonlinear systems, data-driven control, discretization of dynamical systems on manifolds, consensus and coordination problems on Lie groups with applications to mechanical and aerospace systems, geometric observer design on Lie groups with applications in robotics and inertial navigation.

About Pint of View Pune:

Pint of View is inspired by the successful Lectures on Tap community in the U.S. We’re bringing this format to India—where big ideas meet bar tables, and where you can enjoy a drink in hand while walking away with a new way of seeing the world.

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