Events
Machine-Building Competition Sparks Creativity, Teamwork
RALEIGH, N.C. (November 25, 2024) – Engineering students tested their design and problem-solving skills during the popular Rube Goldberg Machine Competition on Wake Tech's Southern Wake Campus.
Named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and engineer, the competition featured 31 teams of students in the Associate in Engineering program who spent months designing the intricate contraptions that perform the simple task of popping a balloon in a not-so-simple way. Two teams from Central Carolina Community College also participated.
The end-of-semester final project challenges Intro to Engineering students to use innovative and creative ideas to build the machine with at least five distinct steps that are time-sequenced and ultimately trigger the final event of the balloon popping. Students had to rely on the principles of physics – gravity, force, mechanics, magnetism, sound waves, light and electricity. They also had to incorporate safety features, keep within certain dimensions and document the design and budget process as part of the assignment.
Students used common objects like marbles, mouse traps, plastic cups, paper towel tubes, wood and anything else they had on hand to create their machines. Many teams got super-creative with their themes, designing machines that featured a trip to McDonald's and a night in Las Vegas.
In addition to practicing engineering concepts, the project helps students understand trial and error, value planning and use critical thinking.
"Engineering is hard, and there are so many intricate pieces into very simple tasks that you don't understand until you have to orchestrate it," said Blake Mason, from Team McRube. "We learned about teamwork and each other. We learned that it's OK to fail and try again when it doesn't work. It was a lot of fun."
Rudra Kalaria, of Chain of Wonders, said he enjoyed making new friends during the project. "We spent many hours together outside of class and on the weekends," he said. "We also learned to enjoy the work that you do and how to complete tasks on time. We weren't expecting to get such a good time on our machine's performance, so we were very happy about that."
Top honors went to the following teams:
- 1st Place: LFG Division
- 2nd Place: High-Egg Spectations
- 2nd Place: The Rubengers
- 4th Place: Chain of Wonders – Peshal Ganorkar, Rudra Kalaria and Carter Lusk
- 5th Place: Brainiacs
- 6th Place: The Chewy Engineers
Each winning team took home a cash prize.
More than 20 local professionals and industry partners judged the projects.
