And the Winner Is...

... us! We won! It was unbelievable. My hope was that we would at least pass the first stage. I would've been happy with that. But, no, our robot kept on running over those obstacles and made it into the final where it beat a very tough competitor (Aesop) for first place. Needless to say, we were thrilled!


This was all fun and everything, but there were plenty of lessons to learn out of this exercise. I think it's interesting to note that the top two designs were based on the same principles: simple and efficient. We didn't try any crazy ideas, didn't use after-market software packages, didn't build any custom circuits. To be sure, our design wasn't even close to being perfect, but for the given context (obstacles, rules, etc.), it was just a bit better than the competition (or luckier, depending on your perspective). But there were some really creative designs out there (the compass robot comes first to mind) and I wish there were multiple categories and winners to highlight the diversity and creativity.

In the end, I think everyone had a good time and we all got to know each other better. I will always appreciate Shelley's ambition ("Come on guys, we need to work harder! This IS MIT!"), Dhiman's brilliant software suggestions and ideas, Bob's precision and methodical approach, Will's mechanical genius and Shantnu's flare for storytellling. Good job, team!