Group Rube Goldberg Machine Project

Everyone loves watching a Rube Goldberg machine run, but getting them to work reliably can be a real test of engineering. And while having students create their own Rube Goldberg machine is a fairly common project in engineering classrooms, having them work together to create one GIANT Rube Goldberg machine is a whole new challenge! This project is without fail students' favorite project of the year and it gives me a great opportunity to cover some real-world engineering concepts that otherwise are a bit bland to work into the curriculum (such as quality control, negotiation skills, and FMEA - Failure Mode and Effects Analysis).

This instructable walks you through how to implement a full-class Rube Goldberg project that covers a bunch of useful engineering skills along the way.

While most people are familiar with Rube Goldberg machines, you will likely have a few students who are not. I like to begin this project by showing a few of my favorite, inspirational Rube Goldberg machine videos to get the students excited about what they are about to start working on.

OK Go created a music video (linked HERE and shown above) that is one giant Rube Goldberg machine and this is definitely my go-to. The music is great and the machine is intense. There is even some behind-the-scenes footage you can show (HERE) that talks about the process of creating the video.

There is an almost unlimited number of videos you can find of different types of Rube Goldberg machines, so pick whatever you think will best appeal to and excite your students to share. Here are another few of my favorites for reference:

• This one is an old commercial by Honda that I can't get enough of
• This one is an old Target advertisement that is beautiful in its simplicity

While the excitement is still high, take the opportunity to brainstorm as a class to decide what task you ultimately want your machine to complete. Some examples we have done over the past few years include raising a flag, pressing an ironic "That was easy" Staples button, turning on the theme song from Rocky, and pulling a pinata open. Once you have your overall goal determined, you can begin layout out the space and generating ideas for the machine.

Just like on the floor of a manufacturing facility, machines often have space requirements they need to fit within - and connect to other machines or processes around them.

To ensure that concept is addressed through this project, begin by taping off contiguous spaces around the classroom where the machine will be built so that the starting point of one box connects to the end of the previous machine space. When I create this project, I usually give each student (or pair of students) roughly 4-5 square feet of floor space to work with. Depending on your space, this could be around the perimeter of the room, somewhere in the middle, or even up and over an unused table or desk area! I have included a sample layout for reference above. Once the layout has been set, you can assign spaces for each person/group (or let them choose their spots if you are feeling adventurous).

Reminders/notes: I recommend using tape designed for gym floors like this for this task if you want to be able to pull it up easily at the end of the project without leaving a messy residue on your floor. Also, make sure to consider the fact that students will need a place to stand to work on their projects when you are creating the machine layout. A little extra room along the side of the taped-off machine spaces is extremely helpful!

The main requirement for each space in our machine is that there must be at least three steps/actions, one of which must be a simple machine. (For more information about what simple machines are, check out this great overview from LiveScience.) The only other requirements for this project are that (1) the machines need to stay within the taped borders for each space, and (2) each section of the machine must be able to be reset in less than 2 minutes. (This last requirement helps ensure that testing can be completed efficiently throughout the project.)

To help students begin to formulate their ideas, their first assignment should be to create a rough sketch of the plan they have for their space. For this sketching assignment, I recommend having students design at least 5 steps/actions so it is easier for them to accommodate the starting/ending requests of other groups once they begin negotiating how their machines will connect.

In the real world, most engineers have to negotiate and or compromise their ideas to meet a goal. For instance, if you want to change something about the size of the engine in your car, you have to negotiate with the people who design the parts around the engine to see if it's possible to get extra space. The same concept holds true for this project. Before students begin building, they need to have meetings with the groups around them to reach an agreement about how the intersection between the machines will be handled. This is a great opportunity to show students the importance of documenting agreements and decisions with meeting minutes (and the soft skill of negotiation) in engineering. Students should document the decisions they mutually come to with groups on either side of them to complete this step of the project and move into building their machines.

Sample meeting notes are included for reference. Good notes will include the date of the meeting, a list of the attendees, and the key points of the discussion/negotiation, the results, and any outstanding homework items that need to be completed.

Now it's time for the fun part. Whether you have a set list of supplies you want to have students use or you allow students to go rogue and bring in/build any components they want to use for this project (the latter is my preference), students will now need time to turn their ideas into reality. (Or, if they are using a large cardboard cutout of Yoda like my students, almost reality...)

Make sure to plan time for them to make the initial machine and then work through all the glitches that will come up as they try to make their portion of the machine consistent and repeatable.

So far students have learned how to work within space confines, put their ideas on paper, negotiate with colleagues, and create and test a prototype with this project. The final (and most technical) engineering skill students have the opportunity to get experience with in this project is to develop a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. This analysis is used to ensure that anything that could go wrong in the design won't. I have included a template for the analysis as well as a short introductory lecture to familiarize students with this concept.

Ultimately the goal here is to assess each component of each person's machine and think about what might go wrong. Then, students can ensure they have implemented design elements that will ensure that those failures do not happen.

For this final step, I set a whole class period aside to celebrate the end of the project. (Often students will bring in money to order pizzas or treats to celebrate as a class.) While they may feel confident about their own machine or even the connection between their machine and the ones on either side of them, this will likely be the first time the machine as a whole has been tested - and it is unlikely that it will go off perfectly without a few hiccups.

Have students set up their machines and then start the machine from the very beginning and test, test, test! If one part of the machine is constantly the failure point, this is a great time for the class to brainstorm together quickly to try to solve the problem to get a perfect run in before the end of the class. And even if that perfect run never happens, I guarantee they will still be excited about the experience overall. The attached video is a good example of a run that, despite a few hiccups, was still was a blast for the students to have worked on.

I guarantee that the excitement students have for getting a perfect run will be contagious and you will want to keep this project a part of your curriculum year after year!