February 20, 2005

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• February 20, 2005

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Who is Rube Goldberg?

• Reuben Lucius Goldberg
• Born July 4, 1883
• Was an engineer for 6 months designing sewers
• Left engineering to become a cartoonist
• Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, and
  author
• Created satirical cartoons of machines and
  gadgets that he saw as excessive

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What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?

• A symbol of mans capacity for exerting maximum
  effort to achieve minimal results.
• Reuben Lucius Goldberg

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Simplified Pencil Sharpener

• Open window (A) and fly kite (B).  String (C)
  lifts small door (D) allowing moths (E) to escape
  and eat red flannel shirt (F).   As weight of
  shirt becomes less, shoe (G) steps on switch (H)
  which heats electric iron (I) and burns hole in
  pants (J).   Smoke (K) enters hole in tree (L),
  smoking out opossum (M) which jumps into basket
  (N), pulling rope (O) and lifting cage (P),
  allowing woodpecker (Q) to chew wood from pencil
  (R), exposing lead.  Emergency knife (S) is
  always handy in case opossum or the woodpecker
  gets sick and can't work.

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History of Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

• Began as a rivalry at Purdue University between
  Theta Tau and Triangle in the 1940s and 50s
• Contest was revived in 1983 by Phi Chapter of
  Theta Tau
• National Contest has been held annually at Purdue
  University since 1987
• Machines have been featured on National
  television shows, such as Good Morning America,
  and the Late Show

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Machine Specifications

• Must complete assigned task
• Base may be no larger than 5 by 6 ft
• May be no taller than 5 ft
• Minimum of 20 steps
• Machine must take no more than 2 minutes per run
• No corporate names or logos on machines
• No live animals
• Must not imply profane, indecent or lewd
  expressions

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Specifications (cont.)

• No objects may leave the boundaries of the
  machine.
• No flames
• No hazardous materials
• No explosions
• Must be safe according to the judges
• No sabotage of other machines

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Team Restrictions

• No limit on the number of members a team may have
• Each member must be enrolled as an undergraduate
  or graduate student at UT

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Judging Criteria

• General Impression (35pts)
• Theme (0 10pts)
• Rube Goldberg Spirit (0 10pts)
• Explanation/Description (0 5pts)
• Team Chemistry (0 5 pts)
• Submitted Machine Description (0 5pts)

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Judging Criteria

• Timing Issued (0pts)
• Description Length (-5 0 pts)
• First Run Length (-10 0 pts)
• Second Run Length (-10 0 pts)
• Dont take more than 2 minutes for a run or you
  will be penalized by the judges!

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Judging Criteria

• Run Related (65pts)
• Completed task Run One (0, 10, or 20pts)
• Completed task Run Two (0, 10, or 20pts)
• Flow of machine easy to follow (0 -10pts)
• Rube Goldberg style steps (0 -15pts)
• Human Interventions (-3pts each)
• Objects leaving machine (-5pts each)

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Tips and Hints

• Machine should have some sort of theme,
  consistent throughout
• Examples Disney, Mission Impossible, etc
• Mechanically powered steps are more in the spirit
  of Rube Goldberg. Judges at the national contest
  tend to look more highly at mechanical steps than
  electrical
• Make sure all steps are visible and easy to
  follow!
• BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN!

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Tasks From the Past

• 1998 Shut off an alarm clock
• 1999 Set a golf tee and tee up a golf ball
• 2000 Fill and seal a time capsule
• 2001 Select, clean, and peal an apple
• 2002 Capture, raise, and wave an American Flag
• 2003 Select, Crush, and Recycle an aluminum can

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2003 Purdue 1st
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2003 Toledo 2nd
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2003 Texas 3rd
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2005 RGMC Task

• Remove both old batteries from a two battery
  flashlight
• Install new batteries
• Turn the flashlight on

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Questions?
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Why should you do Rube?

• Social Activity
• A way to actively participate in your
  organization
• Encourages Creativity
• Power Tools!
• Another activity for you organization to list for
  Outstanding Student Organization Award
• A chance to prove your organization is the best
• ITS FUN

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Why Rube will be better this year

• Biggest contest yet!
• Sunday before E-week
• Peoples Choice Award
• Better communication between judges and teams to
  make sure you know what the judges are looking for

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How does your organization start a team?

• Simply tell Beth or Trish that you are planning
  to have a team
• Visit www.rubemachine.com for official rules and
  information
• Build your machine and be ready for Sunday, Feb
  20
• HAVE FUN!