For the past 50 years, mechanical engineering students at MIT have convened on campus for a boisterous robot competition. Since the 1970s, when the late Professor Emeritus Woodie Flowers first challenged students to build a machine using a “kit of junk,” students in class 2.007 (Design and Manufacturing I) have designed and built their own robots to compete in the class’s final robot competition. For many students, the class and competition are a driving factor in their decision to enroll in MIT. “Each year, students tell us that they came…
