Rube Goldberg Contest
Are you a person who is good at hacking solutions to life’s everyday problems? The Rube Goldberg Live and Online Machine Contests challenge teams of high school students to use everyday materials to design and build machines that carry out a task that is described in the annual challenge. There are few (if any) limits to the parameters of what you can use, and the wackier and funnier the solution the better. You’ll use skills of teamwork, engineering, math, art and design, among others. The competitions start at the local level, with winners moving on to regional and national competitions. The 2020 Challenge prompts teams to Turn Off a Light. And each year’s competition is a little different.
“RUBE GOLDBERG (1883-1970) was a cartoonist, an inventor, and the only person ever to be listed in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as an adjective. Of the nearly 50,000 cartoons he drew in his lifetime, Rube is best known for the zany contraptions of Professor Butts. These inventions, also known as Rube Goldberg Machines, solved a simple task in the most overcomplicated, inefficient, and hilarious way possible.
Rube Goldberg lives on in pop culture and is referenced daily in both print and digital media. His name is searchable, hash-taggable, and at best viral. But nowhere is his legacy more celebrated than through the competitions that bear his name.”
How do I get started? Check out the Rube Goldberg website for more information on how to register your team.
How do I expand this narrative arc? If you loved participating in the Rube Goldberg competition you might consider one of the following to expand and deepen your narrative arc:
Start a Tinker Club in your community in which like-minded teens can dismantle and rebuild used, donated machines and small appliances.
Launch a community-wide Electronics/Appliance recycling campaign. Take what you need for your club, and donate or dispose of the rest through appropriate channels.
Help your community develop a comprehensive Recycling Strategy and Plan.
HOT TIP: This is potentially a fun and rewarding competition for an outside-of-the-box thinker with strengths in STEM. You could have A LOT of fun with this. And it’s actually a pretty prestigious (and fun to talk about) competition to win! Note that you’ll get more mileage out of the experience if it links in to a larger narrative arc - for example, a school club or a particular and deep strength in one or more of the disciplines implicated in the competition. Also think about whether there’s a practical application for your design. Wouldn’t it be nice to bring a technological solution to an everyday problem home to your community?