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.
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