Purdue Students Win Rube Goldberg Contest

Dekortage writes "How long does it take to make a burger? Students from Purdue University's Society of Professional Engineers won the 2008 Rube Goldberg contest with a device that requires 156 steps to assemble a burger. According to the team captain, 'We put 4,000 to 5,000 man-hours into this machine since September, and all the hard work has been well worth it.' That's a long time to wait for dinner." Here's a video of the winning entry in operation.

Comments

Rube Goldberg

[MyNymWasTaken]

That's Goldberg.

http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

Re:Rube Goldberg

[reverseengineer]

The submitter is still waiting for the cat to frighten the pigeon into laying the egg that will roll down the chute to land on the lever that opens the cage so the trained monkey can run over and press the letter "D" on the keyboard.

Re:Rube Goldberg

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

You magnificent bastard...

The best part about Purdue University's machine

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't even make a burger, it just shoots you.

Re:The best part about Purdue University's machine

[DiEx-15]

Eat your heart out Daleks!

Wrong Video?

[Anonymous Coward]

I read burger, but I see orange juice...

Re:Wrong Video?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a link with a story that depicts the machine, although we don't get to watch it all the way through:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q4fTPwXy4U

Re:Wrong video?

[navygeek]

Get something right, only to get something wrong... It's Purdue.

Re:Wrong Video?

[snl2587]

Saw that coming...

nice

[joe 155]

that's pretty impressive. (It should have said in TFS though that it was their objective to make it have as many steps as possible) But I do have to wonder if it maybe wasn't the case that some of the steps were useless - things like "turn burger 1 degree clockwise, turn burger 1 degree anti-clockwise" - but I suppose even so it is an impressive feat of uselessness

Re:nice

[lilomar]

You don't know what a Rube Goldberg Machine is, do you?

Re:nice

[gnick]

It does seem strangely appropriate that creating this impressively convoluted burger maker took an equally impressive 4k-5k man hours...

Re:nice

[Hatta]

I would have been more impressed if it actually cooked the burger.

Re:nice

[Hatta]

Oh wise one, what would you have us spend our hours doing? Does there have to be a point to do something fun?

Re:nice

[VoltCurve]

agreed. People who have fun with engineering projects, building something as complex as possible just because they can. It's disgusting. and Video games? fuck video games. people who have fun have too much time on their hands. How DARE they enjoy their time as they see fit?

Re:nice

[Timmmm]

I agree. Is fun (or happiness, via fun) not the point of life? Even for the religions --- who would want to go to heaven if it wasn't fun there? If anyone can think of a better ultimate goal that doesn't just come down to 'making me happy' (or perhaps 'making other people happy') then I'd love to hear it.

Re:nice

[Missing_dc]

42

Re:nice

[Surt]

You might want to go to heaven regardless of the fun level if the alternative is unending infinite agony.

Re:nice

[lessthan]

That isn't necessarily correct. Isn't sensory deprivation a form of torture?

Re:nice

[i_b_don]

Wow... That's an unbelievability insane statement. Have you ever been to engineering school? Do you know what an engineer does? Engineering is the PRACTICAL use of scientific knowledge. You can learn all the equations in the world but until you actually apply them to BUILD something it's worthless crap filling your mind. You might as well close your school books and go home.

There is no better application in school than doing a project similar to this. Robot building projects and the like were the best thing I ever did in collage and the skills I learned doing them I still carry with me today.

You're crazy to think that this was a waste of time and that we should more emulate China and India with rote memorization of equations. Give me an engineer who can build something any day of the week.

d

Re:nice

[ShieldW0lf]

You're crazy to think that this was a waste of time and that we should more emulate China and India with rote memorization of equations. Give me an engineer who can build something any day of the week.

Easy to say that when you're not responsible for actually delivering those engineers that can build something. If you were, you would have already spent enough time trying and failing in the local market and you would know why it's necessary to go elsewhere. People who need to retreat to the meaningless and inane to find satisfaction in their work aren't the best people to have on your project. They have a tendency to retreat from reality.

Re:nice

[i_b_don]

Hm... ok. I am an engineer and I am responsible for "actually delivering those engineers that can build something" and one general truth of engineers is that they are strange people. It's rare to find a well rounded engineer and it's a fact of life that if you're responsible for getting results you have to be willing to accept a much wider array of people types in order to get the job done.

I mean, how judgmental do you have to be to say "You must be a sucky engineer because you built a Robe Goldberg machine instead of sitting in your dorm room watching TV"?

Stand out, be different, build something for the hell of it, but don't be sucked into the mundane crap that is our bland mind-numbing mass marketing culture.

d

Bad camerawork

[Kelz]

I couldn't help but notice that with the crappy camerawork you have no idea what process is going on at once. Can anyone find a better video?

Re:Bad camerawork

[fm6]

If you really want to follow the process, you need to know all the steps. Getting that into a video would be a major production in itself. I'd settle for a written summary.

Re:Bad camerawork

[darthdavid]

How's this work for you?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

Re:Bad camerawork

[nacturation]

Okay, I will now memorize that video ID... and here I thought I was immune to a little R & R.

Re:Bad camerawork

[splatterboy]

fm6 is right - the company I work for made this commercial about 6 years ago and the cost was in the millions: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4187430023476942057

the the machine itself is designed to be cinematic. The Purdue competition they have a cube to work within and the camera people are not artists or professionals...

would you like fries with that?

[kris.montpetit]

How many steps to make it a combo?

Where's the Beef?

[Jason Earl]

I watched the full video, and I didn't see any hamburgers get made. Did I miss something?

Re:Where's the Beef?

[Tetsujin]

Well, if you followed the link and it was a guy singing about how he's never gonna give you up or let you go, then you followed the wrong link.

Re:Where's the Beef?

[micksam7]

The video is of last year's machine, which made orange juice.

Re:Where's the Beef?

[Tetsujin]

Ah, quite right, I should have checked the online lyrics guide before posting...

Re:Where's the Beef?

[Chrisje]

Did I just spot a Rick Astley reference on /.?

Oooohhh... I didn't realise there were Stock, Aitken and Waterman fans out here.

Orange juice burger??

[Feanturi]

The winning entry according to the article was the burger maker. But the video linked in the summary is a machine making orange juice.

Re:Orange juice burger??

[tist]

This video shows orange juice in the making.
The video to the burger maker is here: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/rube/rube.index.html

Enjoy

Re:Orange juice burger??

[mattOzan]

The winning entry according to the article was the burger maker. But the video linked in the summary is a machine making orange juice.

That's the burger of the future, man! We're going to be drinking tacos, steaks, souffles, you-name-it!

Re:Orange juice burger??

[compro01]

they linked to the winner is last year's contest.

Re:Orange juice burger??

[Sneeka2]

Thanks, but unfortunately the same incompetent cameramen as in posts video. Could they possibly show any less of what's going on, next to pointing the camera straight at the ceiling?

Re:Orange juice burger??

[QuantumG]

Man, why do all video players suck? (except google/youtube)

What's so hard about this? Download the video, play it when you have enough downloaded. Why does everyone try to "buffer" or measure speed throughput or something.

Wrong video?

[webrunner]

The video seems to be of last year's Perdue entry (which was an Orange Juice machine)

Yummy!

[Forthan Red]

I like my hamburgers without the pulp.

Burger with net negative calorie count

[davidwr]

Imagine if a human did all of those steps. He would burn more calories than he consumed.

Burgers as health food? Who knew.

Re:Burger with net negative calorie count

[Applekid]

I'd mod you up, but the damn marble I let go to drop into the basket to pull the string through the pully to release the pin to pop the spring to strike the match against the abrasive pad to burn the rope that releases the weight to hit the macro key on my keyboard that selects the dropdown item, scrolls to the bottom, and hits the "Moderate Posts" button came off its track.

Sorry about that.

Re:Burger with net negative calorie count

[bark76]

It's nice to see someone admit that they don't have the marbles to mod a post up.

I have a better idea

[Minwee]

Next year, can we please build an insanely complicated machine which will beat the entire membership of the Phi Chapter of Theta Tau with the Naughty Web Designer Stick? After being exposed to their Flash Monstrosity that's something I would like to see happen over and over again.

Re:I have a better idea

[CompMD]

As a Triangle, I will happily assist in the beating of Theta Taus. :)

Re:I have a better idea

[Chrisje]

And ye shall name it Steely Dan.

Re:Geez

[Drewmeister]

If I'm not mistaken, here's an alternate video: YouTubed!

Re:As George W. Bush Says

[Minwee]

Are you trying to Lennon-roll us with that video?

Re:Geez

[Anonymous Coward]

Coral Cache can help.

Don't be fooled!

[Starturtle]

This is clearly a thinly disguised promotion for the Incredible Machine 4!

Title in 156 easy steps??

[zappepcs]

Seriously! I thought this country was running out of engineers? Guess we just needed better problems. For anyone interested in a bit of GolDberg fun, try the made-of-Lego Great Ball Contraption http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&output=googleabout&btnG=Search+our+site&q=lego%20gbc
Truly team effort in creating time wasting fun.

Where is MicroSoft's entry?

[dr_db]

I am sure that all admins can attest to the fact that MS products require a ridiculous number of extra steps to perform simple tasks.

Re:Where is MicroSoft's entry?

[Chrisje]

You have to be kidding me. Modding this post 2: Informative is just ridiculous.

Firstly it's incorrect. Some things are easier in Windows, some in Linux, some in HP-UX. Writing this post is just preposterous, even by /. standards.

Secondly, it's not in the least informative. Which things? Where are the links?

WTF, guys?

Re:Where is MicroSoft's entry?

[dr_db]

Sigh, I was trying to be funny, after a 2 week SBS disaster. Yes, many things are easier in Windows, as long as you are on the beaten path. Exiting that path usually becomes an edventure though.

In tribute to Rube Goldberg

[MobyDisk]

In tribute to Rube Goldberg, the web site is done in Flash instead of HTML, and all the text is really bitmaps.

Re:In tribute to Rube Goldberg

[TheSpoom]

They should make a machine that scans a page with the website's text on it and OCRs it for each page view.

Re:Obligatory Samuel L. Jackson Quote

[SCHecklerX]

Mmmmmmm Mmmmmmm!

You ever have a big kahuna burger?

whay is "fast food" still so labor-intensive?

[peter303]

The local big-name burger still takes a minimal staff of about 6, and maybe 20 during rush hour. A lot of the work is taking the order, making payment, and filling the order. We havent really progressed that much past the automats (cafeteria vending slots) of the 1930s or Ray Kroks one-button milkshake machines he sold before starting McDonalds in the 1950s.

A couple years back I saw self-serve terminals at a MacDonalds. But it was a GUI disaster and complicated to use. It had lots of subscreens for each category and you could get lost easy. I, a software engineer, had trouble not to mention less computer literates.

Re:whay is "fast food" still so labor-intensive?

[iocat]

Turns out it takes less time and money to have one expert (eg a trained teen-ager) listen to what you want and enter it than it does to have you enter it yourself. A few Arbys in CA tried self-service terminals, but it was so confusing and impersonal they all switched back (or went under).

Re:whay is "fast food" still so labor-intensive?

[el_gordo101]

McD's has actually started outsourcing the "may I take your order" part of the equation. Don't know how much more efficient it is, though...

Re:whay is "fast food" still so labor-intensive?

[daveime]

Gooback : Gan I elp yoo ?
Stan : I want a burger and some fries.
Gooback : Chigen Sahnwish ?

I for one welcome our goo covered fast food order taking overlords.

Re:whay is "fast food" still so labor-intensive?

[Henry Pate]

We havent really progressed that much past the automats (cafeteria vending slots) of the 1930s The technology behind the counter has progressed a lot though. McDonald's doesn't flip burgers anymore, they use computer controlled clamshells that cook both sides at once, you can cook up to 96 (1.6oz) patties in 42 seconds, 24 quarter pound patties in 106 seconds, toasters that toast multiple buns of multiple sizes perfectly in 8 seconds, heated cabinets that allow longer holding times at consistent and safe temperatures. Fryers that maintain temperature better than ever before, which makes everything cook correctly. Non static filled headsets and speakers with a computer screen to help confirm your order. Dish-washing machines with water pressure that could skin an alligator and a lot more.

Can you tell I worked at one for a while?

The next big step is going to be someone inventing an automated kitchen for McDonald's. They want the most consistent product possible in taste and portion size. A computer wouldn't cook 300 pieces of meat so that it wouldn't be bothered for a while, or leave carbon from the last batch of meat on the grill, or drop food on the ground and serve it. It probably won't be a whole kitchen at once deal but even automating salad making would be a good start, adding an extra tablespoon of bacon to each salad adds up across a few thousand stores.

Re:I guess correctly

[Minwee]

You're right. Lennon was from the UK.

Do you have any other insight into the history of the Beatles you would like to share with us?

In related news: after a long search,

[DavidHumus]

an ANSI committee has appointed a prize-winning team of Purdue engineering students to draft the new C++ standard.

Here's a video?

[mustafap]

>Here's a video of the winning entry in operation.

Duh. Bye bye video.

If You Like This Kind of Stuff

[Nom du Keyboard]

If you like this kind of stuff, get a copy of The Way Things Go (1987), a 30-minute documentary of a whole series of events, each triggering the next.

BOILER UP!!!!

[Monoliath]

GO BOILERS! :D

What about the cow?

[NewsWatcher]

I would have thought the first step was killing the cow or pig. I guess it is back to the drawing board.

Contest is rigged

[gray code]

I'm a member of another chapter of the same engineering fraternity and have competed in the Rube Goldberg competition. The contest is a farce. Purdue wins every year. It's held at Purdue; Purdue profs are the judges; it's held during Parents' Weekend for Pete's sake. Purdue knows before anyone else what the requirements will be and they don't have to worry about making their entry portable enough to go further than across campus. The headline should just read "Purdue holds Xth annual Theta Tau Rube Goldbeg Contest" because them winning is pretty much be assumed.

Re:Contest is rigged

[gray code]

Ok, so out of 6 years Purdue lost twice? What was your point again? Obviously they don't win EVERY time, but the number of times they DO win is questionable, to say the least.

First Post

[cleatsupkeep]

I would have had the first post, but do you know how long it takes for a Rube Goldberg machine to type for you?

Nice zoom

[Kenoli]

Clicking on the image gives you a SMALLER version of it, and an option to BUY it. Buy it. Seriously. I laughed.

Sketches

[KlausBreuer]

Lovely :)

And may I recommend a set of original sketches by Rube Goldberg: http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

Re:In other news...

[aadvancedGIR]

Seriously, I wouldn't want any of these whackos near me if I was to be cured even for a simple cold.

-Steps 1->250: remove skin
-Steps 251->278: drain blood
-Steps 279->1423: separate various tissues from the bones
-Step 1424: dump infected tissues.
-Steps 1425->2897: put back everything
-Steps 2898->3527: try to revive it
-Step 3528: incinerate the evidences