What do you get when an engineer becomes a cartoonist?

ORIGINAL “INVENTIONS”

Putting holes in doughnuts

CONTEST HISTORY In 1988 the first National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was

launched. Nationwide television, radio and printed media attention promoted the growth of the contest to make it bigger and better each year. In 1992, the first contest appeared on television when Beyond 2000 came to Purdue University to film the contest. 

Past national contest winners have been featured on Newton’s Apple, The History Channel, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night With David Letterman, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s This Morning, The CBS Evening News, CNN and Good Morning America. 

CONTEST RULES

The official contest requires separate steps to complete the task.

All 20 steps cannot take longer than 20 minutes.

2012 CHALLENGE:

Inflate a Balloon and Pop Ithttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9yaSI3VlRI

2011 NATIONAL CONTEST WINNER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFzumAZAGMsWater a Plant

CHALLENGE HISTORY1987 Put Toothpaste on a Toothbrush1988 Adhere a Stamp to a Letter1989 Sharpen a Pencil 1990 Put the Lid on a Ball Jar 1991 Toast a Slice of Bread 1992 Unlock a Combination Padlock 1993 Screw a Light Bulb into a Socket 1994 Make Cup of Coffee 1995 Turn on a Radio 1996 Put Coins in a Bank 1997 Insert and Then Play a CD Disc 1998 Shut Off An Alarm Clock 1999 Set a Golf Tee and Tee Up a Golf Ball 

 

2000 Fill and Seal a Time Capsule with 20th Century Inventions  2001 Select, Clean and Peel an Apple  2002 Select, Raise and Wave a U.S. Flag  2003 Select, Crush and Recycle and Empty Soft Drink Can  2004 Select, Mark and Cast an Election Ballot  2005 Change Batteries and Turn on a 2-battery Flashlight  2006 Shred 5 Sheets of Paper  2007 Squeeze the Juice from an Orange  2008 Assemble a Hamburger  2009 Replace an Incandescent Light Bulb with a More Energy Efficient Light Emitting

Design  2010 Dispense an Appropriate Amount of Hand Sanitizer into a Hand  2011 Water a plant 2012 Inflate a balloon and pop it! 2013 Hammer a nail 2014 Zip a zipper 2015 Erase a whiteboard or chalkboard 2016 Open an umbrella!

YOUR CHALLENGE? Design and build a Rube Goldberg machine that

will erase a whiteboard or chalkboard.

MATERIALS? Gather any materials from home that you think

might be useful. Hotwheels track, marble mazes, motors,

dominoes, etc. are all good. Tasks can still be accomplished with simple

materials like paper, tape, and cardboard.

WHAT IS A “STEP”? A change in action. A marble going around a corner is not a new step. A marble jumping off of Hotwheels track into a

funnel is two steps! (1 Hotwheels track. 2) funnel. A marble jumping off Hotwheels track into a

funnel and then hitting dominoes is THREE steps. All steps must be in order and lead to the last

step. The LAST step must be the challenge.

HOW DO WE START? Get in a group of 1-4 students. Brainstorm ideas on paper. Design and clearly label each step on paper. Bring in materials from home! You’ll have to setup and cleanup every day. Be prepared to demonstrate your finished Rube Goldberg

machine on “Rube Day”. Turn in brainstorm and design papers today!

But FIRST….

READY?

GET STARTED!(Brainstorm Ideas due TODAY!)