Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Students create their own Rube Goldberg machineCopyright Microsoft Corporation, 1983-2001
Engineer and cartoonist Rube Goldberg is famous for his crazy machines that accomplish everyday tasks in overly complicated ways. Students use their new understanding of types of simple machines to design and build their own Rube Goldberg machines that perform simple tasks in no less than 10 steps.
Engineers continually dip into their wells of creativity to come up with new and innovative ways of completing tasks. The classic and fundamental simple machines are incorporated and combined into an endless number of items designed by engineers and used everyday. This activity challenges students to bring out their creative side in designing complex machines to perform simple tasks.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Create practical representations of simple machines (prototypes).
- Follow the steps of the engineering design process.
- Use tools safely.
- Learn the five elements of a technology system: goal, inputs, processes, outputs and feedback.