Honestly, we do it because it's fun. Beyond that, it's also the prestige and getting the public excited about science and technology. |
I feel like, if the crowd doesn't like it, then we haven't done our jobs. We always try to create a story and make a personal connection with the audience. We really try to make it fun and interactive. |
In one part of our machine, we used 100 steps just to play the Purdue fight song because we basically created a fully working mechanical player piano. To win the competition is great, but it means so much also to win the People's Choice award because that means we entertained people, too. |
It's a great feeling because we had a lot of challenges this year. The building where we usually work on our Rube Goldberg machine collapsed, so we lost about six weeks of production. We spent a total of about 4,000 hours building our machine. |
That was quite a setback, but the team as a whole came back and put the time in that was necessary in January and February and here we are today. |
This is the eighth year I've been involved in the Rube Goldberg contest, and the competition is played at a much higher level than when I began. The machines are better designed and use many more steps. I am just amazed at how the quality of the machines has increased. |
This year has been different. The building that we've been using for a while collapsed in November, right in the middle of our season. We also had a real young team that really stepped up to the challenge. |
We're taking some additional risks this year. |