On Friday, March 9, Mrs. Laine Schrewe’s Robotics and Engineering Design classes ran their Rube Goldberg Machine, on which they spent hours during class perfecting and testing.

    A Rube Goldberg Machine is a manmade device that performs simple tasks in the most complicated way possible, and no Machine is the same. Each Machine is comprised of a domino effect, in which one event affects the next–meaning that if one obstacle fails, so will the next. This project was named after engineer Reuben Goldberg, known for his wacky cartoon creations and inventions.

    Schrewe, who has created Rube Goldberg Machines in her classes for the past few years, said that the idea came to her from a movie. She repeats the project because it teaches both her Robotics and Engineering Design classes topics she covers in class in an exciting way, and it also provides students with valuable problem-solving skills.

    While there is a national Rube Goldberg Machine contest where each Machine must have the same end result, Schrewe’s classes built theirs out of both robots and creative supplies strictly for the learning experience and the enjoyment. This year’s national contest requires builders to make their Machine successfully pour a bowl of cereal. Schrewe’s classes will have a robot push a Staples “Easy” button to complete its course.

    To create their Machine’s course, students taking Robotics or Engineering Design divided themselves into small groups and completed a portion of the track, using different techniques learned in class. Overall, the Machine took approximately two weeks for the classes to build, and it covers most of Schrewe’s classroom floor.

    “Each group had individual challenges, including entire sets falling apart,” said Schrewe.

    All of the Engineering Design and Robotics classes met in Schrewe’s classroom during fifth period and began the festivities with pizza.

    The group spent all of fifth period running their Machine, as the chances of the Machine running perfectly on the first try were slim to none. The first few runs helped the different groups work out problems with their parts of the course.

    Although the group could not successfully run the Machine without intervening in at least one spot, students still appreciated the project as a whole.

    “I really enjoyed the project,” said junior John Coffey. “I just hate that it ended on a sour note.”

    Students who take Engineering Design or Robotics next year can look forward to surpassing this year’s results and work especially hard to complete a successful Rube Goldberg Machine.