2.74 is an advanced robotics and controls class with both undergraduate and graduate students. Homework and lab assignments throughout the semester involved modeling and simulating robotic systems, implementing joint-space and operational-space impedance control, and trajectory optimization. The goal of the final project was to ask and answer a research question with a non-trivial answer, using a bio-inspired robotic system of the students’ own construction. For this final project, my group decided to optimize the joint motion of a 3-DOF underactuated swinging robot based on two parameters: maximizing swing height and minimizing swing effort. I designed the hardware for the project, which included the robot (three-link linkage) itself, as well as the swinging arms, a mount for the arms, and features to integrate measuring devices such as encoders to measure the swinging motion. I also helped define the optimization parameters and write/edit the final presentation and poster for the class’s postering session that was open to the entire MIT community.