So two weeks ago, I had a lecture from one of the oldest people at MIT.

...This might have also been possibly one of the best lectures I've ever had as well.

The lecture was given by Professor Ernest Blanco from the Mechanical Engineering Department.

Now ever since I was a young kid, I've always been intrigued by invention and design to the point of electric shock at times when I tried to power a robot by plugging a wire hanger into the socket and expecting my robot to come to life.

Professor Blanco's lecture spent some time on four-bar linkages so we can be successful in our 2.007 Design Competition, but the rest of his lecture he spent on the iterative design process and what it takes in order to be successful when designing.

Four Bar Linkage:

This year's contest table for 2.007:

From the MIT News Office:
"In addition to the stair-climbing wheelchair, Blanco has invented a Braille reading machine ("old before its time"), numerous machines for textile manufacturing and an automatic page turner for musicians, among other things."

Awesome, eh?

Apparently his office doubles as a museum, I can see why.