Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

Posted on November 2, 2005  Comments (2)

Rube Goldberg poster

Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (they broke link so I removed it)

Cut or Shred Into Strips 5 Sheets of 8 1/2″ x 11″ 20lb Paper Individually With a Shredder in 20 or More Steps!

Rube Goldberg drew his “Inventions” as contraptions that satirized the new technology and gadgets of the day. His drawings, using simple machines and household items already in use, were incredibly complex and wacky, but somehow (perhaps it was because Rube was a graduate engineer) the “Inventions” always had an ingenious, logical progression as they worked to finish their task.

The annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest held at Purdue University in Indiana is organized by the Phi Chapter of Theta Tau, the National Student Engineering Organization. It hosts college and university teams from across the US. Winners of the high school statewide and regional contests are also invited to run their invention machines at the National.

Another site with additional information on the contest. This seems like a great way to make engineering fun.

2 Responses to “Rube Goldberg Machine Contest”

  1. CuriousCat: Goldbergian Flash Fits Rube Goldberg Web Site
    September 20th, 2008 @ 2:58 pm

    the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest web site illustrates how to use needlessly complex engineering to design a tool that fails to follow sensible engineering guidelines…

  2. Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » University of Wisconsin-Stout Wins 2010 Rube Goldberg Contest
    April 3rd, 2010 @ 3:52 pm

    […] Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (2005) – Goldbergian Flash Fits Rube Goldberg Web Site – Botball 2009 Finals – UW- […]

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