July 1, 2016
Dear School Leader,
I am writing to invite your students to participate in an exciting program we have
developed at Fay School. We call this program the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
(see attached materials).
In short, this is a competition modeled after MIT’s annual machine contest in which
young engineers create innovative and complex devices to perform simple tasks.
This program, co- sponsored by GE, EMC2, MIT, and Fay School, is designed to
foster scientific literacy as it seeds student interest in the field of engineering.
Teams will be made up of middle school students, including those from urban,
suburban, public, parochial, independent, charter, and home schools.
Through the generosity of Fay School’s Grandparent’s Association, which is
funding the cost for all tools and materials and providing a faculty coach stipend
and a travel voucher for each team, this is a no cost proposition for schools
interested in participating.
Due to what we expect will be a great interest in this opportunity, we anticipate that
our goal of registering 16 teams will be met very quickly. Registration will be closed
on 12/21/05, so please take a close look at the enclosed materials, read them
carefully, and register a team today!
To register, complete the attached registration application and send it to me as soon
as possible. With questions, please reach me at cschoberl@fayschool.org.
Respectfully,
Christopher A. Schoberl, MAT, Ed.D.
Academic Dean, Fay School
Fay School’s
RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE CONTEST
April 8, 2006
REGISTRATION FORM
Name of Team:
School Name:
School Address (all materials will be mailed here):
Name of Team Members (6 Students: no more, no less, Grades 7-9; indicate Team Captain):
Name of Faculty Coach:
Position of Faculty Coach at School:
Email Address of Faculty Coach:
Statement of Commitment:
I have thoroughly read and understood the materials for Fay School’s Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.
I am aware of the commitment of time, personnel, and student effort associated with my School’s
participation on April 8th 2006. With this commitment in mind, I endorse my School’s participation in
the Contest.
Name of School Principal, Head of School, or Home Leader
Signature of School Principal, Head of School, or Home Leader
The Fay School
MIT/GE/EMC2
EMC2
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
April 8, 2006 at Fay School
Task for 2006:
Design, Build, and Run a Machine to turn a Page
in a Book
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest
April 8, 2006 at Fay School
Contest Background
Through the Science and Mathematics Departments at Fay School, students interested in
chances to apply their studies have found ready opportunities in problem-solving projects
designed by their teachers. Whether designing and building a scale model of the ideal
house, creating a mouse-trap-powered contraption designed to extinguish a lit candle, or
constructing a package that will allow an egg to survive a 75 foot drop, the enthusiasm
and joy with which Fay students have approached these challenges have inspired school
leaders to develop the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.
The best-known Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is the national event held annually by
Theta Tau at Purdue University. The Argonne Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for High
Schools is affiliated with Theta Tau's national contest. The Fay School Rube Goldberg
Machine Contest is affiliated with MIT.
By joining forces with MIT, and with the sponsorship of GE and EMC, Fay School will
provide an opportunity for students in grades 7-9 to compete against other students from
other middle schools in the only national competition of its type for students of this age.
Such a contest will afford students interested in careers in engineering an opportunity to
apply and synthesize their thoughts in a complex and inherently interesting problem
solving environment. Such higher order thinking is at the core of what it means to be an
educated person, and this contest will provide a showcase for the brightest thinkers
among middle school students from the Boston area and potentially from around the
country.
Rube Goldberg
The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is named after cartoonist Reuben Lucius Goldberg,
the spirit of whose work inspires the contest's weird and engineeringly challenging
machines and crazy contraptions. For more than 50 years, Goldberg's cartoons poked fun
at machines and gadgets which he saw as overly complex. His inventions became so well
known that dictionaries added "rube goldberg" to its listing, defining it as "accomplishing
by extremely complex, roundabout means what seemingly could be done simply" (The
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition).
Goldberg’s "inventions," drawn for our pleasure, will work. By inventing excessively
complex ways to accomplish simple tasks, he entertained us as he made fun of machines
that seemed to be designed to make our lives easier. Goldberg himself claimed that the
machines were a "symbol of man's capacity for exerting maximum effort to achieve
minimal results." He believed that most people preferred doing things the hard way
instead of using simpler solutions.
The Fay School MIT/GE/EMC2 Contest
Funded by the Fay School Grandparent’s Fund and co-sponsored by MIT, GE, and
EMC2, Fay School will invite other middle schools to compete in a spring term Rube
Goldberg meet. The machine earning the most points according to the Official Judging
Scorecard, while meeting all other criteria, will win the contest. The task for the machine
to accomplish has been selected by MIT and will be revealed to registered schools during
the training session at MIT in January. Participation in the contest will be at no cost to
the schools invited. In addition, Fay will provide participating schools with:
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a task to complete,
a staff of judges drawn from MIT and the Contest’s co-sponsors, GE and EMC2,
consultants from MIT,
competition t-shirts
team faculty coach training at MIT,
clear instructions and guidelines,
the competition venue,
a travel allowance of up to $150.00,
a $350.00 stipend for each faculty coach,
lunch and snacks throughout the day,
tools to build the machine on the day of competition, and
all materials to be used in the construction of the machine (to be provided at the
faculty coach training in January).
Awards earned by the overall winning team will include a team trophy and a plaque,
engraved with the winning team’s name, to remain at Fay School. The overall winning
team will also receive an opportunity to display its machine the MIT Museum, a fieldtrip
to the MIT Museum, and tuition free participation in a “School, Teacher and Group
Program” offered by the Museum. Second and third place runners up to the overall
winner will also receive recognition. In addition, trophies will be awarded to winners of
the categories of Machine Complexity, Machine Creativity, and Teamwork/Presentation
to the Judges.
Faculty Coaches
Faculty coaches will help teams determine how to construct their machine to best
accomplish the task assigned, provide transportation to and from Fay School, and to
supervise their team members throughout the competition. As a coach, the faculty
member may not actively participate in the creation of the machine before or during the
competition, but should be available for consultation with team members throughout their
participation in the contest. In this, the coach should answer direct questions with direct
answers and may even be a sounding board for, or provide a reality check.
Coaches should also provide a “moral presence” in accordance with what is right and
proper as well as with a given school’s mission and code of conduct, be available during
student work times, and ensure a safe and fun experience throughout the competition.
Faculty coaches may help students prepare their team’s presentation to the judges and
certify that all competition rules were adhered to. Finally, on the day of the competition,
the Faculty Coach will manage the conduct of his or her team, and remind them that poor
behavior or sportsmanship may be grounds for disqualification.
Faculty Coaches will be provided with required training session at MIT on Saturday,
1/28/06, from 9:30am-1:30pm. All teams must be represented by the primary Faculty
Coach or an alternate. Failure to make this meeting may disqualify a team from the
competition and a replacement team will be selected from the waiting list.
Timeline/Competition Guidelines/At the Contest
By December 21st, 2005
Teams to Register
January 28th, 2006, 9:30am-1:30pm
Training of Faculty Coaches at MIT. On this date, materials and information will be
provided to the Coaches (including the machine to be built, packing list of materials, the
materials themselves, and a list of tools available on the day of competition).
April 8, 2006
Competition Date, Fay School Harlow Gymnasium
9:15am-10:00am, Arrival and Registration
10:00am-1:00pm, Building/Dry Runs (teams should schedule their own breaks according to need)
1:00pm-1:45pm, Lunch in the Reinke Building
2:00pm-4:00pm, Judging of Machines according to random judging order (see
judging order in registration packet). All teams are encouraged to watch the
judging of the machines.
4:00pm-4:30, Awards presentation
4:30-5:00, Spectators permitted to view the machines on the gym floor. Teams to
break down machines, discard materials into the trash barrels, and bring barrels to
the truck outside the gym doors. Rube materials to be recycled should be placed
in the appropriate bins (not the water bottle recycling bins, which will also be
present).
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The number of members on a team will be 6 students in grades 7-9. The
competition is limited to 16 teams, selected by the Contest Steering Committee.
All participants must wear their competition t-shirts during the competition.
Each team must create a machine to accomplish the stated task using the box of
items provided (see Official Materials List).
Each team will be provided with a 15’X15’X15’ foot area in which to construct
its machine and perform for the judges.
A list of tools to be provided on the day of the competition will be included in the
materials delivered to each team during Coach training at MIT. All tools will be
made available on the day of the competition (see Official Tool List).
No tools other than those provided may be used.
Teams must arrive at the competition venue with their materials in the exact
condition in which they received them, and judges will certify compliance prior to
machine construction. Holes drilled, screws or fasteners attached, markings of
any type, etc. will result in the forfeiture of the item. The team may bring plans,
templates, other design, construction, or presentation aids.
No part of a team’s machine or any associated materials may be attached in any
way to the walls, floor, or ceiling of the competition venue. No action of
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building, cutting, or drilling shall damage furniture provided at the Competition
venue.
One member of each team must be designated Team Captain. The Captain will
lead his or her team’s presentation of the machine to the judges, including an
explanation of the process of creating the machine, a detailed Rube Goldberg
style illustration and detailed description of how the machine works (including
each step of the process), and the outcome. Points will be awarded for creativity.
Each team will have a total time of 15 minutes for the presentation of its machine
to the judges (recommended 5 minutes) and the successful run of its machine
(recommended 10 minutes). Should a team exceed the 15 minute period, it will
be disqualified from competition.
The team with the highest overall score will win the competition. Trophies will
be awarded to the overall winning team and 2nd and 3rd place runners up, and to
the teams earning the highest scores in each of the three judging areas of
complexity of the machine, machine creativity, and the quality of
teamwork/presentation to the judges. No team shall win more than one award.
Each machine must be safe to the approval of the judges.
Machines must incorporate a minimum of five different steps in completing the
defined task. A “step” is defined as “a discrete action that (1) contributes to the
completion of the Rube Goldberg task by (2) transferring or releasing energy. For
an action to qualify as a ‘step,’ the machine must not be able to complete the
Rube Goldberg task if the action fails. An action will not qualify as a ‘step’ if it is
part of a series of side events, any one of which can fail without preventing the
machine from completing the Rube Goldberg task. No action in such a series of
irrelevant side events will qualify as a step.” Also, repeating actions will not
qualify as more than one step. A team will be disqualified from competition if it
builds a machine that does not meet this minimum threshold of complexity.
A machine must not imply profane, indecent, or lewd expressions.
A machine may not display any corporate or sponsor logos.
Each team is responsible for the security of its own machine, but intentional
destructive action against other machines is cause for disqualification. In
addition, misbehavior at any time is grounds for disqualification.
A penalty will be assessed for any human intervention on a machine in motion
(see the judging form), defined as any act necessary to adjust the machine’s
performance between the start of a run and its completion.
Teams may bring or invite spectators, but all spectators must remain in designated
areas and will be permitted to view the competition from approved locations only.
Any loose or flying objects must remain within the set boundaries of each team’s
allowable work area (15’x15’x15’).
Contestants are responsible for removing their machine and related debris
immediately following the contest.
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, 2006
OFFICIAL JUDGING SCORECARD
Team Name:_______________________________________
Team Number: ______________________________________
1. Effectiveness of the Machine
Possible Pts.
a. Machine Performed this Task
40 pts.
Earned/Lost Pts.
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b. Human Intervention Required
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(Ten points deducted for each human intervention required during a successful run)
c. Fifteen Minute Rule Violated
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(Team disqualified if it does not have successful machine run in the allotted 15 minutes)
(yes/no)
Effectiveness Subtotal
_______
2. Complexity of the Machine
a. Initial Criteria: Machine must have at least five steps to meet the
complexity criteria threshold.
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(Team disqualified if the machine does not have at least five steps)
(yes/no)
b. For additional steps beyond this threshold, five points will be
awarded for each additional step.
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Complexity Subtotal
c. Machines will be graded for complexity. The rating of A is
awarded to the most complex machine and a rating of D is
awarded to the least complex machine.
Complexity Grade
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A
B
C
(circle one)
D
Team Name:_______________________________________
Team Number: ______________________________________
3. Creativity of the Machine
a. Team Demonstrated Creative Thought in their Design
up to 15 pts.
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b. Team was Creative in Use/Modification of Materials
up to 15 pts.
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Creativity Subtotal
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4. Teamwork and Presentation to the Judges
a. Performance of the Team Captain
up to 5 pts.
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b. Involvement of all Team Members
up to 5 pts.
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c. Team Explained the Machine Clearly and Completely
up to 10 pts.
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d. Quality of Planning prior to Contest
up to 10 pts.
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(teams arriving later than 10:00am will lose 2 points)
Presentation Subtotal
TOTAL POINTS EARNED BY TEAM:
Judge’s Comments (if any):
Judge’s Name __________________________
Judge’s Signature ____________________________
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Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, 2006
Master Judging Scorecard
Team Name: _______________________
Team Number:_______________________
Effectiveness
Complexity
Creativity
Presentation
Total
Judge 1
_________________________________________________________________________________
Judge 2
_________________________________________________________________________________
Judge 3
_________________________________________________________________________________
Average:
Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, 2006
Overall Team Standings
Effectiveness
Complexity
Creativity
Presentation
Total
Team:
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Team:
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Team:
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Team:
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Team:
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Team:
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Team:
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Team:
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Team:
RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE CONTEST, 2006
Faculty Coach Certification
Tools and Materials Lists
TASK TO COMPLETE, 2006
Design, Build, and Run a Machine to turn a Page in a Book
Separate, complete, and submit the form below during registration.
-----------------------------------------------------Faculty Coach Certification
My team followed all instructions as prescribed in the Fay School MIT, GE and EMC2 Rube Goldberg
Machine Contest Guidelines. The role I played as Faculty Coach was executed according to the spirit of the
job description as it was defined in the Guidelines. According to the Contest Guidelines, my team used no
other materials than those provided by the Contest, and all materials provided have been returned to the
Contest venue “in the exact condition in which we received them.”
Team’s School ___________________________ Team’s Name _______________________
Faculty Coach Name ____________________________
Faculty Coach Signature ____________________________
Date ____________