21 steps to building a burger - High school teams demonstrate creativity, innovation at Rube Goldberg contest
By Nicole Byrnes, Reporter
Monday, March 17, 2008 9:52 AM CDT
 |
|
Click to enlarge image
Martin Gramenz, of Baldwin-Woodville High School, checks some last-minute fixes before the school’s entry was judged Tuesday in the Rube Goldberg competition held at UW-Stout in Menomonie. Nicole Byrnes/Dunn County News
|
|
|
Click to enlarge image
|
Late engineer turned cartoonist Rube Goldberg believed that most people prefer to do things the hard way rather than using a simple and direct path to accomplish a goal.
In true Rube Goldberg spirit, nine Wisconsin high school teams spent months designing the most difficult, indirect path to building a hamburger with an eye to demonstrating their inventions at UW-Stout on Tuesday as part of the national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest (RGMC). This is the first year the university has hosted the contest.
This year’s challenge was to assemble a hamburger consisting of at least one precooked meat patty, two vegetables and two condiments, sandwiched between two bun halves all in no less than 20 steps.
Rube Goldberg defined
According to the official Web site www.rubegoldberg.com, Goldberg is famous for his illustrations of machines and contraptions that satirized the new machines and gadgets being built. They often included animals and other common household items and become so widely known Webster’s New World Dictionary added the term “Rube Goldberg” to its listing, defining it as “a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation.”
Outside the box
By creating a Rube Goldberg machine, students learn more than how to complicate a simple task. They also learn teamwork, engineering skills and creativity. In addition to learning how to “think outside the box,” many contest participants go on to pursue careers in engineering and science.
“As a future educator, I find that the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is very beneficial to any student who participates, not only the ones that are planning on pursuing a career in engineering/science,” said Andrew Behnke, UW-Stout Rube Goldberg student coordinator. “Rube Goldberg has a lot of components that teach students responsibility, trust, communication and teamwork skills that are necessary for everyone in our day-to-day lives. The most important thing taught
is the ability to become innovative. If our society keeps innovating, then the economy goes up.”
Watching the machines in action is like stepping into one of Goldberg’s illustrations. Inspired by one of his cartoons, the New Auburn team dressed up in chef costumes like the character Professor Butts and held a “backyard barbecue.”
New Auburn High School senior Logan Butterfield said his team started designing their 23-step machine last November and started building it in January. (See the machine in action in the video on www.dunnconnect.com.)
About the contest
The Rube Goldberg contest is an annual national event that began in 1949 by two engineering fraternities at Purdue University Phi Chapter of Theta Tau Fraternity and Triangle Fraternity as part of the annual Engineer’s Ball. The contest ended in 1955 when the fraternities stopped sponsoring the event.
After a long hiatus, fraternity members revived the competition, and the first national RGMC was launched in 1988. It has grown in popularity every year since and was opened up to high school teams three years ago.
Advancing to national competition
Taking first place in the Stout contest was Thorp High School, followed by Bayfield High School in second place. Both teams will advance to the national competition at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind. on April 5.
New Auburn placed third, with Loyal High School capturing both fourth place and the most spirited team award. Other teams participating were from Bloomer, Cadott, Kimberly, Baldwin-Woodville and Oshkosh.
The event at Stout was sponsored by Hutchinson Technology, Quality Engineering Service, TTM Technologies, REB Fillers, Burger King, Anderson Windows and Culvers.
Nicole Byrnes can be reached at nicole.byrnes@lee.net. |
Archives