After receiving his doctorate (Ph.D.), Flowers began as an assistant professor at MIT. He worked with Herb Richardson on the "Introduction to Design and Manufacturing" class. Known by its course number as 2.70 (now 2.007), the class had a design competition to build robotic devices to accomplish a challenge. Flowers took over the class in 1974, changing it into one of the most popular classes at MIT. He changed the challenge every year, always trying to make it more complex and exciting. The competition was shown on TV several years on the PBS show "Discover the World of Science". The competition became like a sporting event, and was even jokingly referred to as MIT's true homecoming game. In 1987, Flowers handed the class over to Harry West.