Rube Goldberg team prepares for national competition

By Mark Richmond
Senior Writer

Half-empty beer bottles rattle on the table as a group of men laugh about the time one of them got hurt while working on an engineering project.

But the rendezvous at Jake’s Roadhouse was more than a casual outing between friends; it was a strategy meeting for Purdue’s Rube Goldberg team.

Mark Pund, a senior in the School of Technology and co-vice chair for the Rube Goldberg team, said this kind of laid-back atmosphere is typical of the team. "There are times when it’s just as fun as going out," Pund said. "It’s a blast."

The nine-man Rube Goldberg team, members of The Society of Manufacturing Engineers, is preparing for Saturday’s national competition at West Lafayette High School. The Rube Goldberg competition honors the late cartoonist Rube Goldberg, known for his whimsical and cartoonish machines that inspired the event.

The competition starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and will host five teams from around the nation.

The men will pit their complicated machine, "The Big Apple," against other college competitors from around the country. Each machine is designed to complete a simple task — select, clean and peel an apple — but must be as complicated as possible, similar in concept to the board game "Mousetrap."

It took the men more than 700 hours to finalize their New York City-themed design, but it will take less than 20 minutes to run the contraption during the competition.

"It took a lot of time," Pund said. "I was usually there until late at night, skipping homework, stuff like that."

Eric Grossman, a senior in the School of Technology and team president, said, "We were pretty sure that we wouldn’t finish, but it all came together really nicely."

Beau Wendholt, a senior in the School of Technology and team co-vice chairman, said there were high-fives all around when the machine first ran successfully.

Wendholt said the team gets a kick out of competitions when the machine scares nearby spectators. "We have a little CO2 propelled jet that scares the hell out of people," Wendholt said. "Sadly, all the injuries we got building the thing were the funniest part."

The team members, who are also old friends, laugh as Pund rubs a scar on his forehead and the now-empty beer bottles rattle once again.

The team used a classic engineering approach to create the machine. Each problem was broken into smaller parts that were easier to solve individually. They then put everything together after each step was complete.

Grossman said engineering concepts helped their project design. "We used electronics, physics, statics, strength of materials and a lot of common sense."

With all the practical engineering experience provided by the contest, Wendholt said the project serves as excellent job interview material. "It's great for your résumé," he said. "(Interviewers) want to know about leadership, teamwork and planning; you get all that here."

FEATURES DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 256

Features editor:
Megan Finnerty

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org