Rube Goldberg Machines

Maximum effort for the minimum results!

Rube Goldberg is best known for his “Inventions” cartoons, which use a string of outlandish tools, people, plants, and steps to accomplish everyday simple tasks in the most complicated way. Building Rube Goldberg machines is an opportunity to design and build while learning about the six simple machines – the wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, pulley, screw, and the wedge.

Watch Saiya’s machine as it demonstrates tasks using simple machines, and then watch Sajan’s machine solve a problem in the most complex way using simple and compound machines. Then, it will be your turn to build your own Rube Goldberg machine!

Rube Goldberg (1883 – 1970) was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. Here are a few examples:

Building Rube Goldberg machines has become a popular engineer challenge. The machines demonstrate combinations of the six simple machines:

Carolina Biological Supply Company. (2019). Infographic: Simple Machines | Carolina.com. Retrieved from https://www.carolina.com/teacher-resources/Interactive/infographic-simple-machines/tr39003.tr

At Woodlawn School building Rube Goldberg machines is a tradition for each upper class. Check out a few examples:

The Challenge

Now it’s time for you to give it a try and build your own Rube Goldberg machine! Choose a simple task and figure out the most complex way to accomplish.

Step 1 – Choose your task.

What task is you machine going to accomplish. Here are a few ideas but you can select any task that you can imagine.

turn a light off
crush a beverage can
drop a bottle in a recycling bin
water a plant
plant seeds in a pot of soil
pop a balloon
fill a glass with water
shut a door
squeeze toothpaste onto a toothbrush
turn off an alarm clock

Step 2 – Choose your supplies.

You don’t need to buy materials, just look around your house to find everything you need. Don’t forget take advantage of recycled material.

aluminum foil
plastic containers
cardboard
water bottles
toilet paper or paper towel tubes for chutes
cereal or cake mix boxes to use like dominoes
beverage cans, soup cans, or batteries to roll
dominoes
funnels
marbles
golf balls
toy cars
string
buckets
cups or bowls
batteries
magnets

Step 3 – Assemble your machine.

Build and test each component individually and then connect them all together.

Here are some examples of components:

a line dominos that fall down and hit a ping pong ball
a spiral ramp made of paper plates that provide a ramp for a marble
a swinging on a string to hit a pin and burst
a series of tubes for a ball bearing

You’ll see these and many more ideas in the videos above and below. Try to think up new ideas of your own.

Here’s an extra challenge … can you use at least 5 different simple machines in your machine?

Step 4 – Test your machine.

Once you machine is complete test it to see if it works. Notice the steps that don’t work, change and test again. Don’t forget to take pictures or video of your machine.

Journal Questions

What task did you select for your machine?
What materials did you use?
What was the hardest part of you machine to get working? Did you have to test multiple times?

Earn badges and qualify for prize drawing by registering and answering journal questions. It's fun and easy!