Rube Goldberg competition sets record for inefficiency
By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com April 2, 2007
Retrieved from CNET Tech News http://news.com.com/Rube+Goldberg+competition+sets+new+record+for+inefficiency/2100-1008_3-6172601.html?tag=nefd.top
I found this article that I thought was very interesting because it is about a contest to create a technology that is the most roundabout way to carry out a simple process. Typically, I associate technology with trying to make a more efficient way to carry out a process. Just a few weeks ago Ferris State University won the Rube Goldberg competition at Purdue University. They won by creating a machine that needs 345 separate procedures to make a glass of orange juice.
The contest was named for Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist who drew fanciful machines and the point of the contest is to make ornate, complex devices to conduct simple tasks. The challenge of this year’s competition involved taking an orange, squeezing out the juice into a pitcher, then pouring it into a glass using 20 or more steps. In previous contests, machines have had to peel an apple, toast a piece of bread or put a stamp on an envelope, among other tasks. It took Ferris State University 3,000 hours and many toys, including a slinky and an Operation game, to create their winning machine. They beat last year’s record, set by Purdue, by 130 procedures.
This competition sounds like a lot of fun because it is like you are a kid again building things out of your toys. I remember that as a child I spent my happy hours building my own innovations using my toys. Reading this article made me want to get out my LEGOs from my chhildhood and build something again.
By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com April 2, 2007
Retrieved from CNET Tech News http://news.com.com/Rube+Goldberg+competition+sets+new+record+for+inefficiency/2100-1008_3-6172601.html?tag=nefd.top
I found this article that I thought was very interesting because it is about a contest to create a technology that is the most roundabout way to carry out a simple process. Typically, I associate technology with trying to make a more efficient way to carry out a process. Just a few weeks ago Ferris State University won the Rube Goldberg competition at Purdue University. They won by creating a machine that needs 345 separate procedures to make a glass of orange juice.
The contest was named for Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist who drew fanciful machines and the point of the contest is to make ornate, complex devices to conduct simple tasks. The challenge of this year’s competition involved taking an orange, squeezing out the juice into a pitcher, then pouring it into a glass using 20 or more steps. In previous contests, machines have had to peel an apple, toast a piece of bread or put a stamp on an envelope, among other tasks. It took Ferris State University 3,000 hours and many toys, including a slinky and an Operation game, to create their winning machine. They beat last year’s record, set by Purdue, by 130 procedures.
This competition sounds like a lot of fun because it is like you are a kid again building things out of your toys. I remember that as a child I spent my happy hours building my own innovations using my toys. Reading this article made me want to get out my LEGOs from my chhildhood and build something again.
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