Brandon Worrell and Amos Winter at 2.007 Robot Competition, 2022
Brandon Worrell (right), a sophomore studying mechanical engineering, explains the design decisions he made in the construction of his robot "Cascade" to Associate Professor Amos Winter, 5 May 2022.
Every year, the student robot competition in class 2.007 (Design and Manufacturing I) is centered around a unifying theme. From “Star Wars” to “Back to the Future” and “Willy Wonka,” the theme is reflected in the gameboards where robots designed and built by mechanical engineering students compete for points. On Thursday, May 5, the event featured its most poignant theme to date: “Legacy,” a celebration of the competition’s founder, the late Professor Emeritus Woodie Flowers.
Flowers inspired generations of future engineers as a professor at MIT, a co-founder of the global FIRST Robotics Competition, and host of the PBS series “Scientific American Frontiers.” His pedagogical approach to hands-on education shaped the engineering curriculum at MIT. In what was a radical educational method at the time, Flowers incorporated a spirited and boisterous competition as part of class 2.007 (then known as 2.70).
"Student robot competition honors the legacy of the late beloved professor, Woodie Flowers" by Mary Beth Gallagher, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT News, 17 May 2022