Rube Goldberg Machines
Introduction:
Rube Goldberg was an artist, inventor, engineer, author and sculptor. He is best known for his comical drawings of crazy contraptions and inventions. His artwork appeared in newspapers throughout the United States from the early 1900's to the 1960's. Today, the term Rube Goldberg is used to signify anything done in an overly complicated or round-about manner. Rube Goldberg's cartoons are incredible displays of ingenuity, detailed logic, physics and satire. He poked fun at the many complicated inventions that were available at the beginning of the century, and at the round-about methods people devised for solving their problems. |
Purpose: To build a machine that is designed to do a simple task.
Materials: You can use anything you have available at home & a video camera.
Parameters:
This project is due: May 14th (A Day) / 15th (B Day)
Scoring Rubric:
Materials: You can use anything you have available at home & a video camera.
Parameters:
- You may work alone or with a team of 6.
- The machine must contain a minimum of 7 steps & include 5 different types of simple machines (There are 9 different types total – see attached page). Your machine must have one of the following machines included:
- Lever with a mechanical advantage of 2.
- An inclined plane that is 20°-45° (think of a pizza slice) that is used to pull up an object 10cm vertically high.
- Final projects must be video-taped at home and brought to school.
- Media related Skit: Center your video around a creative idea or theme. i.e. an infomercial, movie scene, tv sitcom, favorite book, pop culture icon.
- As you present it, be sure to introduce your team somewhere in the video; describe what your machine is designed to do; point out the different simple machines; and finally demonstrate the machine. Be sure to make a credit’s page in the beginning or end.
This project is due: May 14th (A Day) / 15th (B Day)
Scoring Rubric:
- Each requirement below is based on a score of 50 possible points each.
- Project has at least 7 steps
- Project has 5 different simple machines
- Explanation of what the machine does & points out the different parts of the machine.
- Function ability – Machine “actually” works w/o assistance.
- Skit Originality & Creativity