Students Vie To Over-Engineer in 2015 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

The winning team used a giant gumball machine, a tennis ball, a falling hammer, a bowling ball, a fry pan, tubes and tracks and lightbulbs, a tiny boxing glove and a plastic shark, along with multiple other accessories, all as the most elaborate scheme possible for zipping up a zipper. Purdue University students came up with the overly engineered concoction, demonstrated in this YouTube video, thereby winning the 2014 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.

A Rube Goldberg Machine is an overly complex contraption, designed with humor and a narrative, to accomplish a simple task. The contest is inspired by the whimsical designs of Pulitzer-winning cartoonist and former engineer Reuben "Rube" Goldberg, whose trademark illustrations took simple tasks and made them superbly complicated.

Purdues 2014 winning entry

Purdue's 2014 winning entry

This year's competition asks participants for the most "overly complex contraption" for erasing a chalkboard or a whiteboard. Teams and their machines will be judged on "absurd complexity, reliability, team chemistry, creativity, humor and story-telling" as well as the completion of the task at hand. Entries must follow at least 20 steps and include no more than 75 steps.

Teams that win a regional contest go onto the "finals." Those events are taking place at Penn State, Drexel University, Purdue, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin in Barron County. The national competition takes place on March 28 at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, OH.

The same competition also includes divisions for middle school and high school students.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • glowing digital brain above a chessboard with data charts and flowcharts

    Why AI Strategy Matters (and Why Not Having One Is Risky)

    If your institution hasn't started developing an AI strategy, you are likely putting yourself and your stakeholders at risk, particularly when it comes to ethical use, responsible pedagogical and data practices, and innovative exploration.

  • laptop screen with a video play icon, surrounded by parts of notebooks, pens, and a water bottle on a student desk

    New AI Tool Generates Video Explanations Based on Course Materials

    AI-powered studying and learning platform Studyfetch has launched Imagine Explainers, a new video creator that utilizes artificial intelligence to generate 10- to 60-minute explainer videos for any topic.

  • cloud and circuit patterns with AI stamp

    Cloud Management Startup Launches Infrastructure Intelligence Tool

    A new AI-powered infrastructure intelligence tool from cloud management startup env0 aims to turn the fog of sprawling, enterprise-scale deployments into crisp, queryable insight, minus the spreadsheets, scripts, and late-night Slack threads.

  • Stylized illustration showing cybersecurity elements like shields, padlocks, and secure cloud icons on a neutral, minimalist digital background

    Microsoft Announces Security Advancements

    Microsoft has announced major security advancements across its product portfolio and practices. The work is part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), a multiyear cybersecurity transformation the company calls the largest engineering project in company history.