What is a Rube Goldberg Machine Reuben Lucius “Rube" Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883, in San Francisco, California. As a teen, he loved to draw and received some basic art instruction when he worked with a sign painter. Rather than pursue a career in art, though, he followed his father's advice and attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his degree in mining engineering. Mapping out sewer pipes and water mains in San Francisco didn't hold Rube's interest for long, though. He began creating cartoons for local San Francisco papers before moving to New York, where he eventually landed a job as a cartoonist for the Evening Mail. He used his engineering background to create funny cartoons featuring complicated machines that were described as new inventions to accomplish easy, straightforward tasks through a series of convoluted steps involving chain reactions. The public quickly fell in love with Rube's “inventions." (Wonderopolis)
Your Challenge Your team will need to create a machine that will take between one and two minutes to place a marble in a cup.
Judge will place the marble into the machine.
Once the marble enters, there can be no outside forces or interactions to the marble or machine.
The machine must be no larger than 1 meter by 1 meter by 1 meter (a one meter cube)
Time starts the moment the marble is released and stops the moment the marble enters the final cup.
The Process 9:40 - 9:50 Tour the materials room. Only take what you need and use all that you take. Wait until 10:15 to get materials. 9:50 - 10:00 Individually Design. In your notebook, list, sketch, brainstorm ideas for what to do. 10:00 - 10:15 Discuss as a team. Share your ideas. Divide responsibilities. Everyone participates. 10:15 - 11:00 Build, Test, Iterate. Test. Work as a team. Fail fast and pivot. 11:00 - 11:25 Scoring Window. Invite judges to your machine to receive team points.
The Points 2000 pts for the marble exiting between one and two minutes. 500 pts for the marble exiting between 30 seconds and three minutes. up to 500 pts for teamwork up to 500 pts for creativity (uniqueness of solution) up to 500 pts for complexity (application of a variety of elements that interacted with the marble) up to 500 pts for splendidity (how impressive is your machine) Deductions -100 pts per centimeter the machine is outside the 1 meter cube -500 pts per touch within the 1 meter cube (if you choose to tap the marble if it gets stuck)