Rube Goldberg Machine Contest-Wrapup

We attended the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at The Museum of Science and Industry on April 22 and it was amazing!    I previewed the goings on earlier on the blog, and it was every bit as magical and wonderful as I expected it to be.

In case you've forgotten, the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest has been challenging students for over 30 years to devise and build their own convoluted contraptions to solve a simple “problem.” This year’s competition challenge: Pour a Bowl of Cereal.  (sponsored by, of course General Mills!)

The devices are based on the work of Rube Goldberg, a prolific 20nth century cartoonist.  In fact, his grand daughter was on hand, and gave a talk about her grandfather that was pretty interesting!



Here's an example of just one of the many teams and their inventive contraptions.


What was great about going to the event and talking to all of the makers was how committed these young people were to the idea of invention and all of that entails, including experimentation, iteration, and failure.  I got a chance to talk to a bunch of the teams (including one of the elementary teams from Schaumburg as well as a perennial favorite college team from Purdue, who seemed to have two teams fielded in the finals) and all of them told me how much fun it was, and how much fun figuring out the problem was, and then trying to figure out the solution.

The winning team from Chino California

I was particularly impressed with the zeal of the team from Chino California, whose Rube Goldberg machine started their cereal journey in the farms of Chino, and then followed the life-cycle of the cereal and milk until it made its way into the bowl (which in their zany case, ended up being a giant toilet bowl, reminding us of the FULL cycle of food.

The students were all dressed in costume as various inhabitants of the different stages represented, including a giant cow and a pig costume.  They were fully committed to their roles, and they were so articulate about what they got out of it, that I was not surprised to hear that they took first place in their division

There were also a few other activities, including one sponsored by local group BitSpace Chicago, that taught kids how to saw, clamp, and even use power tools, and then interface them to the computer.  My son had a lot of fun at that event also.  And we really enjoyed the lecture by YouTube Rube Goldberg maker Joseph Herscher, who gave a talk on what inspires him to create, and how he goes about it.  That was a great inside look at the work of a pretty brilliant inventor.

Learning to use tools with BitSpaceChicago at the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest Finals at MSI

 Even those kids that didn't win did a great job and showed tremendous amounts of inventiveness and creativity.  However, there must be winners, and in this case, there were a bunch.  Congrats to all of the winners, but also congrats to all of the participants!


Here's a video montage of our day at the event.  This includes some pictures and some video and a whole lot of fun.

THE WINNERS

There were four divisions, and here are the winners (for the first time this year, there was an apprentice division, and the three top winners all came from Illinois!  I hope that the finals are somewhere close by next year!  (And I am definitely bringing this up to our PTA to see if my son's school (The Walt Disney Magnet School, which focuses on arts and technology) can field a team next year.  It seems like a natural fit! )


Apprentice (Elementary School)
Professor Butt’s Creative Sparks: St. Hubert Catholic School, Hoffman Estates, IL
Apprentice Spirit of Hilarious Invention: Hoover Math and Science Academy, Schaumburg, IL
Apprentice Helping Hand: Collins Elementary School, Schaumburg, IL

Division I (Middle School)
Lyle S Briggs School, Chino, CA

Division II (High School)
Rho Gamma Phi from Chatfield High School, Chatfield, MN

Division III (University)
Purdue PSPE, West Lafayette, IN

To find out more about competing, visit http://www.rubegoldberg.com

Rube Goldberg Contest at MSI- This weekend!

Now in its 30th year, the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest challenges students of all ages to devise and build their own convoluted contraptions to solve a simple “problem.” This year’s competition challenge: Pour a Bowl of Cereal.

If you don't know who Rube Goldberg is, don't worry, you actually do.  He was a cartoonist in the early 1900s who was famous for drawing complicated machines to do simple tasks.  It's estimated that he drew over 50,000 cartoons during his lifetime.  Some people think that the game Mousetrap is based on his work.

His name and his zany machines live on in the hearts and minds of people.  Youtube is filled with attempts at making crazy machines.

A typical Rube Goldberg Cartoon

Here's a video about who Rube Goldberg was:

This year the finals of the official Rube Goldberg Machine Contest are being held at the Museum of Science and Industry.  It's this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22.  Museum guests are welcome to watch the competitors swing, burn, catapult, scurry, roll and hammer their way to the top. Cereal will be spilled—let the flakes fall where they may.


Both days of the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest Finals will also feature these special guests:

At 2 pm (West Pavilion auditorium) Jennifer George will present a personal look at her grandfather, Rube Goldberg, from his early San Francisco years to his rise to the top of his field in cartooning in New York City. She will also discuss his legacy for future generations, and will take your questions.

Also at 2 pm in the West Pavilion, Ed Steckley, a Reuben Award-winning illustrator in New York City, will talk about (and sign) the new book he illustrated  Rube Goldberg’s Simple Normal Humdrum School Day.

At 3 pm on both days in the West Pavilion Auditorium,  Joseph Herscher, Youtube useless machine builder with millions of Youtube hits, will detail his creative process and explore the magic behind Rube Goldberg machines. Why are people mesmerized watching familiar objects used in unfamiliar and playful ways?

The contest and lectures by special guests are free with Museum Entry. 
The contest opens to the public at noon on both days.

More info from the museum: MSI Rube Goldberg contest
More info about the contest itself: https://www.rubegoldberg.com/contests/

Some books from Amazon

GreenApple Campus Camp-- Cool Contraptions

I thought we were all set for camp this summer, but then I heard from a friend of ours about a camp (GreenApple® Campus) that seemed too good to not try. When I read the descriptions of the classes to my son, he just about cried with joy.

As devoted readers will remember, my son is very excited by the Maker Movement.  We've been to a number of Maker Faires, and a couple of years ago, he was all about building mousetraps and Rube Goldberg machines after we saw the Life Sized Mousetrap  at Maker Faire NY.

VIDEO OF THE LIFESIZE MOUSETRAP:

THE FIRST INTERATION OF AA'S MEDIUM SIZED MOUSETRAP.

These machines continue to fascinate.  So it's no surprise that my  son will be attending the GreenApple® Campus class COOL CONTRAPTIONS.  This invention based program is all about building contraptions, vehicles and machines that move. Gears, beams, pulleys, wheels, axles, pieces that snap and flex.  All of the kind of gizmos that will inspire the aspiring Rube Goldberg. (And will hopefully inspire him to use up the buckets and boxes of springs, cardboard tubes, rubber bands, and various detritus that he refuses to throw out!)

GreenApple® Campus is an educational not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. Their mission is to inspire the innovators of the future through creative, challenging STEM or STEAM programs for kids. All of the classes, programs, and workshops feature some combination of science, technology, engineering, math, architecture, design, and invention.  Classes are offered in robotics, programming and app development, tinkering and making.  (And there are also some Lego robotics and Minecraft modeling classes!)

They also have an entrepreneurship startup program called Startup to Achieve for kids grades 6-9 that brings you the basics of being an entrepreneur (and very cool, one of those sessions is Just For Girls, so that gender stereotypes about girls and science won't be fulfilled.)

In the Chicagoland area, GreenApple® Campus has 4 locations, plus the StartUp to Achieve program is in a couple of different places.  Go to their schedule page to find out where their classes are offered and which classes are offered when.  They've got a lot of classes available, and I'm sure one of them will be right for your tech-hungry child.

DISCLOSURE:  We are being provided free tuition at GreenApple® Campus in order to try the camp out.  As always my opinions and my son's unfettered desire to build cool contraptions are our own.  I take my critical reputation seriously, and so should you.