ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Use of a Rube Goldberg Design Project for Engineering Dynamics Devin R. Berg Engineering & Technology Department University of Wisconsin – Stout 16 June 2015 Twitter: @devinberg, #ASEEAnnual, #T239 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Slides available online! https://speakerdeck.com/devinberg 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ What do I hope to accomplish? • Creativity and challenge • Demonstrate an example of how a course topic is achieved • Interpersonal communications and collaboration • Planning and execution • Report writing and presentation delivery 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ An Initial Pilot Project Task: Design one stage in a multi-stage Rube Goldberg machine. Constraints: -Must demonstrate course topic -2’ x 2’ x 2’ Deliverables: -Final design report & presentation -Working stage -Assembled “class” machine 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Provided Course Topics 1. Relative motion 2. Fixed-axis rotation 3. Potential energy 4. Kinetic energy 5. Newton’s 2nd law 6. Projectile motion 7. General planar motion 8. Impulsive motion 9. Instant rotation centers 10. Natural frequency 11. Damped vibration 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Students come from a variety of backgrounds. Many students had never built something before. One had won the regional Rube Goldberg competition… [Link] 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Project Logistics • Materials were “scavenged” – > Dorm room construction • Some in-class work time, mostly out-of-class • Intermediate deadline – Week 6: Verbal design proposal – Week 9: Brief written project update – Week 12: Draft of written report – Week 14: Final report and presentation 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Student submissions showed variety. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Student submissions showed variety. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Student submissions showed variety. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ A trial run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJj6U_R0fA0 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Assembled machine had 39 steps. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ At our STEM expo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNVy9bM84os 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Concluding Remarks • Constructed a machine with 11 stages/39 steps. • Students overcame limited materials/tool access. • Many lessons about effective communication. • Final reports strong in theory and performance prediction. Weak in experimental validation. • Worked well as an outreach activity. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Possible Revisions • Increase structure > less open ended. • Introduce low-level shop training. • Better access to materials and workspace. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the UW-Stout students for their hard work. 

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT Inspiring Innovation Learn more at www.uwstout.edu/et/ Thank you for your time!