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Rube Goldberg Contest

Sponsored by the Engineering Alumni Association


Purpose:

In the spirit of joyous and whimsical inefficiency epitomized by the works of Rube Goldberg, this is your opportunity to express your engineering creativity! Demonstrate one of the zaniest machines possible! Each participant -- in the spirit of Rube Goldberg -- will create and build a machine to take a whole orange, juice it, and pour the juice from a pitcher into a cup.

Named after, and inspired by the cartoonist Reuben Lucius Goldberg, the contest is designed to pull students away from their matter-of-fact way of looking at a problem and send intuitive thought spinning into a chaos of imagination. The end result is usually a collection of bits and pieces of found objects and mechanical parts put together in a whimsical and unlikely working configuration to build a new machine that actually conquers the current year's challenge.

Rube Goldberg drew his "inventions" as contraptions which satirized new technology and gadgets. His drawings, using simple machines and household items already in use, were incredibly complex and wacky, but somehow (perhaps it was because Rube was a graduate engineer) the "inventions" always had an ingenious, logical progression at their root.

Location: 207 RGAN

Set up any time after 9am. Judging is at 11:30am.

Register in Advance: By emailing alumni@engr.uky.edu. Send your name, address, phone, email, name of your school and grade year in school

 

Rules:

  1. Safety is the top priority. The entry shall not include any device that might endanger entrants, spectators or judges. Entries deemed unsafe will be disqualified.
  2. The device shall not make use of ANY animal.
  3. The device MUST INCLUDE AT LEAST THREE (3) of the following elements: a wheel and axle; a lever; a pulley; an inclined plane; a process which converts potential energy to kinetic energy; a gear system; a funnel or trough or tube with marbles.
  4. The device must include fully descriptive labels for each of the elements in Rule 3, which are incorporated in the design.
  5. The device must fit into an area the size of a card table which you provide. In no instance is the device to exceed two meters in height.
  6. The devices will not incorporate the use of any flammable or corrosive substances (including candles and open flames), liquids in excess of two liters, falling weights in excess of five kilograms, or electrical components powered by anything other than a single 9-volt battery.
  7. Each entry will be allowed up to three trials for the device to complete the task, so devices should be designed for quick resetting.
  8. Groups may enter, but only one participant per device may register. Awards will be given to this registered participant.
  9. Friends and family of the judges and administrators are encouraged to participate, but are ineligible for prizes.
  10. Any judged to be the work of individuals other than those entered in the contest (or their peers in the case of group entries) will be disqualified.
  11. The decision of the judges in the competition will be final
  12. Contestants need not be present to win, but are required to provide personnel to setup and operate their entry.

 

Prizes:

  • First Place :
  •      A Dell Laptop Computer! Inspiron 1501 with Windows operating system, 512MB of memory, 15.4 inch wide screen, 60GB hard drive, 256MB video card, CD burner/DVD combo drive and may other features. A $1400 value! Thanks to Dell for this donation.
  • Second place:
  •      A Lexmark Printer! Thanks to Lexmark for this donation.

 

Contact Information:

 

 Rube Goldberg