Rube Goldberg

2014-08-15 153114 003

Click on this photo for a more detailed view of the Rube Goldberg contraptions built during an iRobot team building event today. Members of the Electrical Engineering department split into teams and built two ball throwing machines each. The first had to throw a heavy steel ball about the size of a softball. The second, positioned down field, had to be triggered by the rolling steel ball and then throw a tennis ball. The catch was that the machines had to be built in isolation from each other forcing the teams to work on communication skills. Competition for the furthest combined toss and greatest number of successful triggers was intense. Teams were rewarded by being given time to aim and fire their tennis ball launchers at the management team who had to stand still in a line. Each one of us was eventually picked off and we were fortunate that threats of using the steel ball launchers were just meant to rattle us.