The final part of our Rube Goldberg was hard because there was a lot of testing and building involved. The building was hard because you needed more than 8 steps or transfers of energy and at least 3 simple machines. Also, a lot of revising was involved because some of the buildings didn’t work. Testing was hard because it took a lot of time to set it back up once it didn’t work and also to try and find the right angle to film the video at. Making the final video was pretty easy because all we had to do was talk about the process and machine then show fails and the one time it worked.

I came up with ideas for my Rube Goldberg Machine by first looking for things I could use in my house. Marble run, Magnet tiles, Jenga blocks, etc. I did this so I could get an idea of what I can use and how to incorporate each thing. And then I came up with my task. At first, I thought maybe I can incorporate one of the cool features in my house like my Golf Simulator but then later I concluded it would be too hard. So then I thought of simpler ideas like putting a ball in a cup, knocking something over, ringing a bell, flipping a switch, etc. But I decided to go with ringing a bell as my task because I felt like I could incorporate a lot of things doing this task. Some of the changes I made to my machine were getting rid of the sharpies I put in and then I replaced them with dominoes. I made this change because I thought Dominoes were more likely to be able to continue the machine and knock over the next thing better than the sharpies could. Something that was challenging was the building. It took a lot of editing to try and make it work and it also took a lot of stability to keep it up. I used Gears for stability because you could stick a flat board on them so there is a flat area. Something that was easier than I thought was the filming. It took me less than five tries for my machine to work. I thought it would take like thirty. I think it was easier because all you had to do to get a good run was set it upright.

My final machine and my sketch differ because my machine I added stables so it wouldn’t fall at the end while on my sketch there aren’t stables at the end. For my final machine sometimes I had to try and make something that would work. For example, I had to build a platform so my pendulum would stand and knock over the dominoes. Another change I made was adding another inclined plane at the end. Before I had a drop where the car just fell but then I later realized the car would have a better chance of knocking over the Jenga blocks if it was moving faster. This was an important change because know the car goes way faster and generates more momentum for the machine to continue running.

Making my video was a little challenging. We had to include some fails, a successful run, talking about the process, etc. putting some fails in it was a challenge for me because my Rube Goldberg didn’t take so many tries. This had a big impact because my video would now be shorter and I would not be able to include as much of the filming. My mom helped me with the filming and this was very important because I was able to have her help me when I was confused. Making my video wasn’t too hard. Besides having a little film, I thought it turned out well. Narrating played a big role in my video. I had an overview of my machine where I walked through it and talked about what happens. I also talked about the process of building it and what steps I took. And then I also talked a little in the end to give a little wrap-up about this project. Some of the unique features I put in my video were a slo-mo video of my successful run. And an overview of my machine. I decided to put both of these things in because I thought it was a look from a different perspective.

All in all, I enjoyed doing all of the steps of the Rube Goldberg.

Here is my video

A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that makes something easier. We (5C) were tasked with making one. For example, You could do a machine that flips a light switch so you don’t have to flip it yourself. There are many things you can build a Rube Goldberg to do.

The researching part of the project was pretty fun. We had to find things we could incorporate into our Rube Goldberg. Some of the websites that were useful were youtube and google. Youtube because I could find how to build simple machines and other things to incorporate into our machines. Google was useful because I could search up good ideas and ways to structure my Rube Goldberg so it wouldn’t fall.

One challenge was editing. it was hard because whenever one part didn’t work you would have to go back to your sketch and your plan and find what was wrong. this was hard because the problem isn’t always found in the sketch. If you couldn’t find the error you would have to try to either remake or fix the part or put in something that would work instead of the part that isn’t working. When my gears weren’t working decided to build a pendulum instead but still incorporate the gears as stability. Fortunately, there was only one main challenge but unluckily, it was a very big challenge. Testing my project was fun and also hard. Whenever it didn’t work consistently, you would have to go back into your design. Some challenges there were from filming was getting a good angle and also getting every part of the Rube Goldberg.  Designing my Rube Goldberg project was very fun and it was like trial and error because we had to think logically and have our build be able to work. Designing was hard because there were many sketches that you had to build part of to see if it would work or not. For some of the simple machines, I included the lever, inclined plane, wheel, and screw. Most of these were easier to incorporate than the others because there are more opportunities to use an inclined plane than a lever. This made it hard because you had to really think about how to incorporate each thing. Most of the materials worked well but some didn’t like the wedge. I decided to use things I could find around my house and to see if they would work. I tested each step one at a time so I could easily fix the problems.

All in all, doing the Rube Goldberg machine was both fun and challenging.  When we continue the project, I think it will be even more fun than before.