Wide Angle: Recycle-Bots Take Over

May 18, 2009

MIT's 2.007 mechanical engineering design class held its annual competition recently, pitting robot against robot. This year it had an environmental theme: construct robots that can pick up and drop off recycling.

Get the can! The winning robot (video of the finals) built by sophomore Edward Grinnell actually racked up the most points by using a second "bother bot" to slow down opponents. Hrm. Sounds more strategic than efficiently green, but it's impressive to see the competitors' vastly different designs built mostly from the same kits.

What might be better than recycling robots--robots made from recycling. Gearheads cheered a national grassroots stuff-swap effort called Curb Day, which took place over the weekend. Robots.net predicted that "you'll be [...] looking for those motors, gears, motherboards, or old lawnmower engines you need to complete your next robot project." Reuse WIN.

Photo: Don't worry kid, it's only Curby the "recycling robot" of Roseville, California.

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