Mechanical Arm

Lore & Background

Flowers was known for co-creating FIRST, a youth organization known primarily for operating FIRST Robotics Competition and other student engineering competitions. Working with inventor Dean Kamen, Flowers helped design the organization's competition structure based loosely around his 2.70 class at MIT. Flowers introduced the phrase 'gracious professionalism' to FIRST. He served every year as National Advisor to FIRST.

Reader's Guide

Flowers initially expected not to attend college, but at the advice of a high school teacher he attended Louisiana Polytechnic Institute under a disability scholarship, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1966. He then attended MIT, earning his M.S. (1968), M.E. (1971), and PhD (1973). After receiving his doctorate, Flowers began as an assistant professor at MIT, working on the 'Introduction to Design and Manufacturing' class (2.70, now 2.007). He took over the class in 1974, developing it into one of the most popular classes at MIT. In 1987, he handed the class over to Harry West.

Did You Know?

• Flowers earned the rank of Eagle Scout as a boy.
• He was inducted into the STEM Hall of Fame at the 2017 VEX Robotics World Championship.
• The FIRST Robotics Competition created the Woodie Flowers Award in 1996, which was awarded to Flowers that year.
• Flowers was a Distinguished Partner at Olin College, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.