I noticed over on the DMSE blog that the 2008 winners of MADMEC were featured on CNET, in their article on the MIT  Energy Conference. At the time, the winners of the contest were called Heliotrope. They have since founded a start-up company and changed their name to SunPoint: a model of their latest technology is below.

From the looks of the prototype above, we’d bet those grey acrylic sheets were cut on the RFL laser cutter!

MADMEC is the main activity that occurs in the RFL over the summer. Teams of undergrad and graduate students form to compete in a “hardware” base contest — that is, their goal is to conceive, design and build a working prototype that harnesses alternative energy or solves an energy problem through the use of Materials Science principles. This is a bit different than most MIT-hosted contests in that it is not about a business plan, marketing, or a pitch: it is all about producing a working device over the summer. To do this, the teams are trained on all of the machines housed in the RFL: the laser cutter, water jet, CNC lathe and mill, EDM, and 3D printers. We give each team $1,000 to build their prototype — the top 3 teams win prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000. We feel like this experience gives the students real engineering experience, and makes them better engineers and scientists.

Keep an eye on the MADMEC site: it will be updated soon with information for 2010′s MADMEC IV! Proposals will be due in mid May.