{"id":32,"date":"2015-03-16T18:37:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T18:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunypoly.edu\/stories\/?p=32"},"modified":"2015-03-16T18:37:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T18:37:49","slug":"first-year-engineering-students-tackle-rube-goldberg-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp.sunypoly.edu\/stories\/first-year-engineering-students-tackle-rube-goldberg-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"First-Year Engineering Students Tackle Rube Goldberg Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"suny<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t know it by name, it\u2019s likely that somewhere in pop culture, you\u2019ve seen the elaborate contraptions known as \u201cRube Goldberg machines.\u201d After a recent competition in ESC 100 Introduction to Engineering, SUNY Poly students are more familiar with the concept than ever.<\/p>\n

A Rube Goldberg machine is a device designed to perform a simple task through multiple steps. Named for a 20th-century cartoonist and inventor known for his cartoon depictions of such devices, it has become a popular gag in pop culture and the media. The assignment for engineering student groups was to use materials that could be found in an average household to create a device that would use seven to eight steps to knock a ping pong ball into a goal. Students used dominoes, toy cars, string, plastic cups, balloons\u2014even a plastic toy dinosaur.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to be creative and to realize the importance of teamwork,\u201d said Steven Wei assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. \u201cIn engineering, you sometimes have to design within restraints. A design can be magnificent without spending a fortune.\u201d The Rube Goldberg exercise was the final project of the semester for the engineering students, Wei said, and helps to bring together all of the aspects of engineering they\u2019ve learned over the whole semester while emphasizing the importance of teamwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we didn\u2019t have teamwork, we could not pull this off,\u201d said Cassadi Williams, a freshman from Boonville, N.Y. \u201cDuring the whole setup process, one person has to be doing something while someone else is doing another thing at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

A trio of faculty judges\u2014Wei, Mason Somerville and Andy Wolfe\u2014watched as the students put their contraptions into motion, judging each on originality, presentation and final execution. Some went off without a hitch, prompting cheers. Other attempts did not fare so well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a lot of patience,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWith this, if one thing doesn\u2019t work, the whole thing doesn\u2019t work. I can just imagine if one thing went wrong with a bridge. The whole thing would have issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wei was very happy to see how much thought and creativity went into each device, as well as just how adept all the students were in working together to make each machine possible. \u201cI believe that sometimes we tend to underestimate the students\u2019 potential,\u201d he said. \u201cThey certainly do rise to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Tell us Your Story<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even if you don\u2019t know it by name, it\u2019s likely that somewhere in pop culture, you\u2019ve seen the elaborate contraptions known as \u201cRube Goldberg machines.\u201d After a recent competition in ESC 100 Introduction to Engineering, SUNY Poly students are more familiar with the concept than ever. A Rube Goldberg machine is a device designed to … <\/p>\n

Read more “First-Year Engineering Students Tackle Rube Goldberg Challenge”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst-Year Engineering Students Tackle Rube Goldberg Challenge - Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/webapp.sunypoly.edu\/stories\/first-year-engineering-students-tackle-rube-goldberg-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First-Year Engineering Students Tackle Rube Goldberg Challenge - Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even if you don\u2019t know it by name, it\u2019s likely that somewhere in pop culture, you\u2019ve seen the elaborate contraptions known as \u201cRube Goldberg machines.\u201d After a recent competition in ESC 100 Introduction to Engineering, SUNY Poly students are more familiar with the concept than ever. 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