Rube Goldberg machine

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A Rube Goldberg machine or device is any exceedingly complex apparatus that performs a very simple task in a very indirect and convoluted way. It first appeared in Webster's Third New International Dictionary with the definition, "accomplishing by extremely complex roundabout means what actually or seemingly could be done simply." The expression has been dated as originating in around 1930 in the US^[1] to describe Goldberg's illustrations of "absurdly-connected machines" ^[2]. Since then, the expression's meaning has expanded to denote any form of overly confusing or complicated system. For example, recent news headlines include "Is Rep. Bill Thomas the Rube Goldberg of Legislative Reform?"^[3], and "Retirement 'insurance' as a Rube Goldberg machine"^[4]

1 Other similar expressions internationally
2 Machine contest
3 Influence on Popular culture
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Other similar expressions internationally

The expression "Heath Robinson contraption", named after the fantastical comic machinery illustrated by British cartoonist W. Heath Robinson, shares a similar meaning but has been dated as originating in the UK in 1912^[5].

In Denmark, they are called Storm P maskiner, after the Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen.

In Spain, devices akin to Goldberg's machines are known as Inventos del TBO (tebeo) named after those which cartoonist Ramón Sabatés made up and drew for a section in the TBO magazine, allegedly designed by some Professor Franz from Copenhagen.

The Norwegian cartoonist and storyteller Kjell Aukrust created a cartoon character named Reodor Felgen who constantly invented complex machinery. Though it was often built out of unlikely parts, it always performed very well. Felgen stars as the inventor of an extremely powerful but overly complex car Il Tempo Gigante in the Ivo Caprino animated puppet-film Flåklypa Grand Prix (1975).

In Turkey, such devices are known as Zihni Sinir Proceleri, allegedly invented by a certain Prof. Zihni Sinir (Crabby Mind), a curious "scientist" character created by İrfan Sayar in 1977 for the cartoon magazine Gırgır. The cartoonist later went on to open a studio selling actual working implementations of his designs.

Another related phenomenon is the Japanese art of useful but unusable contraptions called chindōgu.

[edit] Machine contest

In early 1987, Purdue University in Indiana started the annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, organized by the Phi Chapter of Theta Tau, the National Professional Engineering Fraternity. The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest is sponsored by the Theta Tau Educational Foundation. The contest features US college and university teams building machines inspired by Rube Goldberg's cartoon. The contest is judged by the ability for the machine to complete the tasks specified by the challenge using as many steps as possible without a single failure, while making the machines themselves fitting into certain themes.

[edit] Influence on Popular culture

Humerously complex machines make appearances in a wide variety of media, and can be said to be Goldberg-esque, even if they are not specifically Rube Goldberg devices. However, given the predominantly US-centric nature of the expression, they could equally be said to be very "Heath Robinson" in a UK context, for example.

Notable examples of devices in pop culture include Nick Park's "Wallace and Gromit" series of short and feature animations, Wallace's inventions may appear to be Goldberg-esque. A recurring joke throughout A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and Curse of the Were-Rabbit are the absurd contraptions that Wallace invents.

Rube Goldberg devices frequently appear in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with or without partner Marc Caro. A recurring theme in Delicatessen is the character Aurore attempting to kill herself using such devices, which backfire and force her to live another day. In The City of Lost Children, similar machines abound, including a famous set piece in which a little girl's teardrop triggers a chain of events that ultimately causes a shipwreck. The films Amélie and A Very Long Engagement expand this theme further, moving from the physiological to the metaphysical. As noted by Philadelphia City Paper's Sam Wood, fate itself operates as a Rube Goldberg device, "an endless chain of tricky coincidences whose final result is utterly beyond prediction."

Example of a Rube Goldberg machine

The Looney Tunes short "Hook, Line, and Stinker" ended with the Wile E. Coyote character attempting to use a Rube Goldberg machine to capture the Road Runner. Many other Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts employ such devices.

The 1985 movie Back to the Future features a Rube Goldberg device which the character Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) uses to prepare his breakfast and feed his dog Einstein.

The 1987 installation The Way Things Go of a Heath Robinson/Rube Goldberg-type machine, was filmed and resulted in a more than 29 minutes short film.

One popular function of Garry's Mod, a mod for the computer game Half-Life 2, enables players to manipulate objects and characters within a physics-based environment. It is one contemporary example where Rube Goldberg machine principle is common. Elaborate traps or machines can be built by the player using a range of in-game objects. The resulting inventions are often recorded and are downloadable from gaming websites.

The Ideal Toy Company released a board game called Mouse Trap in 1963 that was based on Rube Goldberg's ideas (this game is currently made by Hasbro).

The illustrations in books in the Professor Branestawm series, such as: The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm (ISBN:0140351388) often include Rube Goldberg devices.

The Family Guy episode 8 Simple Rules For Buying My Teenage Daughter featured Peter Griffin recalling a worthless 'Breakfast Machine' he bought. The machine was a Goldberg device, but as he explained in the show, "All it does is shoot you! It doesn't make breakfast at all!" [1]

During a special holiday episode of Mythbusters that aired December 6, 2006, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman created a Rube Goldberg machine. It took them over ten tries to get the entire system to work properly.

The Japanese educational television program PythagoraSwitch divides the segments of each episode with sequences depicting Rube Goldberg devices (called Pythagorean Devices) that each result in displaying the name of the series.