Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
An origional Rube Goldberg comic: the “Self-Operating Napkin” machine. This image was created on September 26, 1931 and is now under public domain.
Rube Goldberg— the man, myth, legend, and subject of one infamous Templeton Middle School 8th grade project. This week, Charger Press challenges you to make your own Goldberg inspired project!
Who Was Rube Goldberg?
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883, in San Francisco, CA. He was a prolific cartoonist: he was the first member and president of the National Cartoonist Society, won the Pulitzer Prize for cartooning in 1948, and is the namesake of the Reuben Award, which names the best cartoonist of the year. His longest legacy being cartoons featuring complex and unnecessary machines known as ‘Rube Goldberg Machines.’ Goldberg was also the inspiration for international contests to create a long and unnecessary process to complete a simple task.
Here is the 2018 winner of the college division Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. Purdue Society of Professional Engineers used 74 steps to pour a bowl of cereal.
What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?
A Rube Goldberg Machine, which uses household items, usually consists of a string of steps to complete a task that really only requires one step— such as pouring a bowl of milk, sharpening a pencil, hammering a nail, or putting a can in the recycling bin. Rube Goldberg Machines start with one human action, but then may not be touched again by the person.
Your task for this competition is to turn on a computer with ten or more steps!
Contest Requirements:
The machine must finish by turning on a chromebook or other computer.
Machines must have a minimum of 10 steps listed on the submission form and have a video that shows all steps of the machine.
After the first step is completed, the machine must run all by itself. You may not touch the machine after the starting action.
Videos must not include any copyrighted music or explicit/derogatory language/images.
Charger Press recommends that entries filmed on phone cameras be in ‘landscape’ mode rather than ‘portrait’ for purposes of aesthetics.
Use the form below to submit your video entry by April 1st. Entries that are explicit or inappropriate will be disqualified as well as entries that break the contest requirements. If you worked on the project with more than one person, please list all of your names but only give one email. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at chargerpress@hamiltonstudents.org!
Prize!
Charger Press knows that it is hard to be cooped up at home during this stressful period, so we hope that this challenge alleviates some of that boredom. Additionally, while this may be a contest, we hope it presents itself as fun and inspires you to be creative! The winner of Hamilton Charger Press’ First ever Rube Goldberg Machine Contest will be featured in an article on the chargerpress.com and have their video shared by the Charger Press Twitter, @Charger_Press.
Example Submission:
Name(s): Charger Press
Email: Chargerpress@hamiltonstudents.org
Link to video: youtube/googledoc link
Steps:
Start the machine by putting a marble in the funnel
The marble lands on a scale that tips a track containing a rubber ball
The ball rolls down the track and hits a book that is standing up
Books are in a line like dominos, the first book knocks down all the rest until the last one lands on a ruler being used as a lever
As the book lands on one end of the ruler, the other end has a spoon taped to the end with an ice cube on it, the ice cube goes flying and lands inside a strainer
As the ice cube melts, the water lands in a bowl. The bowl is resting on top of one thick piece of paper that is suspended between two boxes.
When the weight of the bowl becomes too much, the paper bends and the bowl falls between the boxes onto another lever made from a blue ruler.
As one end of the blue ruler goes down, the other goes up. The side of the blue lever going up was supporting a red ruler lever. Now, the red lever follows this fashion with a third ruler.
As the third ruler’s final side goes up, it unblocks the path of a suspended marker tied in the middle with a string. The marker has a marble tied to its center. The string was wound up, so when the ruler moves from its path, it spins and slowly lowers itself onto the Chromebook.
The marble attached to the spinning marker lands on top of the ‘power’ button of the Chromebook, and it turns on!
