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2.70 Machine

MIT 2.70 (now 2.007) is a mechanical robot design competition. My year's competition pitted two robots against each other in a game of soccer: first to score wins.

As a result of skillful planning, I was up for 40 hours straight immediately prior to the competition. I lost first round, scoring against myself. In in-class demonstrations following the competition, however, my machine performed excellently.

Despite my sleepy showing at the competition:
- my design notebook was used in class as an example
- the instructors kept my machine and used it to teach following classes
- I won a mechanical design award ($200) for the machine.

My only complaint is that I don't have more pictures of the final version.


The machine was essentially a forklift catapult. Charge in, lift the ball with the fork, spin, and hurl the ball over the opponent, through the goal.

Clearly, my work is cleaner than my workspace.

A page from my notebook. This drawing confirmed that the machine would fit within the competition volume limitations.


Copyright Jim Gouldstone 2004