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MIT student blogger Bryan O. '07

My Engineering Hero by Bryan

One of the coolest professors at MIT

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.

8 responses to “My Engineering Hero”

  1. hey! i thought I was your fav prof!

  2. Hey Bryan!

    That’s amazing! I plan on majoring in mechanical engineering at MIT *if* I get accepted! I hope Professor Blanco is still there next year if i get the chance to study at MIT!

    Thanks a lot for the entry!

    Abdulaziz (Aziz) Albahar

  3. James says:

    Automatic page turner? Where can I get one?

  4. gm says:

    That automatic page turner is great! I wish I had one! Thanks Bryan for the post =]

  5. Bryan says:

    Unfortunately, the page turners are not for sale. Sadness. =/

  6. Hi Bryan!

    That was an incredibly interesting entry. I’m planning on majoring in civil engineering, and now you’ve got me all excited about Professor Blanco’s mechanical engineering lectures!

    I’m planning on attending MIT if I hopefully get accepted.. What are the most interesting/useful classes you’ve taken so far?

  7. Anne Marie says:

    Hi Bryan!

    Wow, I just registered here and everything sounds very exciting!

    Engineering is my goal at the moment. What kind of high school preperation did you have in order to enter into engineering?

  8. kelv says:

    Hello,

    Just wondering if the page turner u were talking bout can turn pages both forward and back. =)