Olin Challenge: Rube Goldberg Device

One of the first goals for the Olin Partner Year was to run a student project of considerable size in order to learn what issues related to projects at Olin would need attention during the remainder of the year. We decided to attempt to build the world's largest Rube Goldberg Device.

Over the course of two months, we constructed a 121 step machine (the previous record was 113 steps) that would turn off an alarm clock. Steps included a guillotine that sliced bananas, a wooden sailboat, a compressed air cannon, and a windup car. We were never able to run the machine all the way through, and were thus uneligble to win the world record, but we learned a considerable amount about how student projects at Olin might work.

In addition to participating on a team responsible for one of the six modules in the machine, I coordinated large portions of the project, including the schedule, team structure, space issues, coordination with finanicial services, and media relations.

Team: Students, faculty, and staff at Olin College of Engineering