The Tufts Center for Engineering Education (CEEO) turned twenty in October 2016. To mark the occasion, we built a cookie decorating robot for the 20th Anniversary Celebration, and delivered smiles and custom cookies to adults and children alike.

The robot is comprised of a mix of LEGO robotics, wood, and metal scaffolding. When a customer requests a cookie, the robot pulls a cookie from the cookie repository slide and moves it, via a conveyor belt, to the decorating area. In the decorating area, a stencil is placed on the top of the cookie. Then, a motor engages a can of edible spray paint to color the surface. For the anniversary, the robot used four different stencil patterns; the CEEO logo, a LEGO minifig, Gears, and a Tufts Jumbo Elephant.

A big thanks goes to Lyndell’s, a local bakery. Their staff was incredibly helpful and excited to make me a batch of identical cookies, conforming to my stringent specifications.

Sam Woolf