SPH3U: Rube Goldberg Machine

Overview:
Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist whose creations used to grace several weekly newspapers. He made cartoons
of machines that were designed to perform some specific task in a very wacky manner! Consider, for example,
the machine below
Open window (A) and fl !i"e (#)$ S"ring (%)
lif"& &'all door (() allowing 'o"h& ()) "o e&cape and ea" red flannel &hir" (*)$ A& weigh" of &hir"
beco'e& le&&+ &hoe (G) &"ep& on &wi"ch (H) which hea"& elec"ric iron (,) and burn& hole in pan"& (-)$
S'o!e (.) en"er& hole in "ree (/)+ &'o!ing ou" opo&&u' (M) which 0u'p& in"o ba&!e" (1)+ pulling rope (O)
and lif"ing cage (P)+ allowing woodpec!er (2) "o chew wood fro' pencil (R)+ e3po&ing lead$ )'ergenc
!nife (S) i& alwa& hand in ca&e opo&&u' or "he woodpec!er ge"& &ic! and can4" wor!$
!s you can see, the pencil"sharpener is anything but practical, it does however, appear to perform the task
that it was designed to do.
5our 6a&!:
#orking in groups of $"%, your &ob is to design, construct, and test a Rube Goldberg"type 'achine. (he
specific task is left up to you, but could include something like putting a ball in a basket, creating a ham and
cheese sandwich, or filling a glass with water in the most complicated fashion possible )Hint us the #*+ to
help your research,.
(e&ign %ri"eria:
'ust involve at least - energy transfers from one body to another . li&" "he&e
'ust involve a least % energy transformation from one type of energy to another type of energy " li&"
"he&e
Should be as complicated as possible
*ach energy transfer must be uni/ue )ie. Cascading dominoes is the same as cascading pipes and would
count as one energy transfer for the whole cascade,
+atteries may be used, but count only as one energy transformation )chemical to electrical,
*nergy sources used in the machine may be loaded before the start and not touched during operation
0o live or dead animals
1nce started, the machine must run without group intervention
Rube Goldberg gets his think"
tank working and evolves the
simplified pencil"sharpener.
%o'ponen"&
2our assignment will consist of the following parts
3art $ 3reliminary 4esign . (U) (A6)
5ummary paragraph " #hat will your machine do, and how will it do it6
5cale drawing " side view and top view or 7"pt perspective
" drawn to scale using the 58 system
3lease put in a duo tang
3art 7 5how (ime . Demonstrations (U) (A6)
)i"her in per&on or a& a video$
)valua"ion
Preli'inar (e&ign (.eep a cop for our&elf when handing in) %o''unica"ion ( 738)
5ummary paragraph describing )keep in mind whether or not someone else could build it from your
description, overall purpose9 flow of events referring to labelled parts9 the motif9 and the materials
used )grammar, and style count,.................................................................................. $: marks
5cale 4rawing with details of complicated parts )dimensions, parts labelled, materials list w;
/uantities, neat,............................................................................................................... $< marks
*nergy (ransfers )- (ransfers;% (ypes,==== "$ for each missing======= < marks
%on&"ruc"ion7Perfor'ance Applica"ion (
>evel of Complexity......................................................................................................... $: marks
Creativity Recycle )anything not used for its intended purpose,.......................$: marks
?uality of engineering )is it well built6 !ppropriate materials used,................$: marks
0umber of energy transfers.......................................................................................... - marks
0umber of transformations x 7 ................................................................................... - marks
Completion of task............................................................................................................. % marks
*ach outside intervention re/uired to complete the task will cost .........."$ marks each
)2ou can start it from the beginning for more than one trial but it should run from start to finish
under its own power.
P/US "here i& a Peer %onfiden"ial )valua"ion
Peer Evaluation: of ______________________by _________________________
1. Spent sufficient time: 0 2 4 6 8 10
2. Collected building materials: 0 2 4 6 8 10
3. Contributed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
4. Had creatie ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
!. "esearc#ed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
6. $uilt reliable components: 0 2 4 6 8 10
%. Contributed during competition: 0 2 4 6 8 10
Peer Factor Mean = _____/10
Rube Goldberg Evaluation Schee:
Group Members: ____________________________________________
Preliminary Design
Summar& paragrap# 'grammar( and st&le count) 10
Scale dra*ing 'parts labelled( materials list( neat) 1!
+nerg& ,ransfers !
Construction/Performance
Comple-it& 10
Creatiit& 10
$uild .ualit& 10
number of energ& transfers 8
number of transformations - 2 8
completion of tas/ 4
eac# outside interention re0uired to complete t#e tas/ *ill cost 1 mar/s
Rube Goldberg Evaluation Schee:
Group Members: ____________________________________________
Preliminary Design
Summar& paragrap# 'grammar( and st&le count) 10
Scale dra*ing 'parts labelled( materials list( neat) 1!
+nerg& ,ransfers !
Construction/Performance
Comple-it& 10
Creatiit& 10
$uild .ualit& 10
number of energ& transfers 8
number of transformations - 2 8
completion of tas/ 4
eac# outside interention re0uired to complete t#e tas/ *ill cost 1 mar/s
Peer Evaluation: of ______________________by _________________________
1. Spent sufficient time: 0 2 4 6 8 10
2. Collected building materials: 0 2 4 6 8 10
3. Contributed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
4. Had creatie ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
!. "esearc#ed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
6. $uilt reliable components: 0 2 4 6 8 10
%. Contributed during competition: 0 2 4 6 8 10
Peer Factor Mean = _____/10__
Peer Evaluation: of ______________________by _________________________
1. Spent sufficient time: 0 2 4 6 8 10
2. Collected building materials: 0 2 4 6 8 10
3. Contributed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
4. Had creatie ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
!. "esearc#ed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
6. $uilt reliable components: 0 2 4 6 8 10
%. Contributed during competition: 0 2 4 6 8 10
Peer Factor Mean = _____/10__
Peer Evaluation: of ______________________by _________________________
1. Spent sufficient time: 0 2 4 6 8 10
2. Collected building materials: 0 2 4 6 8 10
3. Contributed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
4. Had creatie ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
!. "esearc#ed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
6. $uilt reliable components: 0 2 4 6 8 10
%. Contributed during competition: 0 2 4 6 8 10
Peer Factor Mean = _____/10__
Peer Evaluation: of ______________________by _________________________
1. Spent sufficient time: 0 2 4 6 8 10
2. Collected building materials: 0 2 4 6 8 10
3. Contributed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
4. Had creatie ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
!. "esearc#ed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
6. $uilt reliable components: 0 2 4 6 8 10
%. Contributed during competition: 0 2 4 6 8 10
Peer Factor Mean = _____/10__
Peer Evaluation: of ______________________by _________________________
1. Spent sufficient time: 0 2 4 6 8 10
2. Collected building materials: 0 2 4 6 8 10
3. Contributed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
4. Had creatie ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
!. "esearc#ed ideas: 0 2 4 6 8 10
6. $uilt reliable components: 0 2 4 6 8 10
%. Contributed during competition: 0 2 4 6 8 10
Peer Factor Mean = _____/10__