Every year, MIT's Mechanical Engineering Department holds a robot competition for one of its keystone MechE classes, Design and Manufacturing I (2.007). The theme for this year's class was "Hack to the Future", and the contest gameboard consisted of a DeLorean and clock tower.

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I designed my robot to accomplish several tasks on the gameboard. It includes three modules - a 4-bar linkage to pick up "plutonium" acrylic rods, a winch mechanism to lift up the rods and dump them in a "Mr. Fusion" raised container, and a driving system to climb the DeLorean. I also added a robotic bridge to cross a trench to get to the plutonium rods when it seemed that driving over the see-saw "hoverboard" wasn't always reliable.

 

2.007 gave me the opportunity to design, prototype, iterate, and fabricate in a very self-driven setting with access to a wide array of tools and resources. Beyond planning, designing, and making CAD models, I got to spend about a hundred hours throughout the semester down in the machine shop using the tools.