Israel Celebrates 70 Years of Independence
Rube Goldberg Machine School Challenge
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, one of the leading institutes of science and engineering in the world, invites you to build your own Rube Goldberg Machine in honor of Israel’s 70th Birthday!
Happy Birthday Israel!
About the Contest
The Technion invites teams of high school students (9-12) from schools around the world to create Israel themed Rube Goldberg machines. This challenge will encourage students to use out-of-the-box problem solving and teamwork to build a multi-step, chain reaction machine, and creatively incorporate Israel themed elements and texts into their entry. The deadline for entries is March 1st, 2018.
Judging
A panel of judges representing the Technion will select the winners based on their creative rendition of “Israel Celebrates 70 Years of Independence” and Israel themes as a Rube Goldberg Machine. Winners will be selected using the judging criteria included below.
Recognition and Prizes
Winning schools will be awarded the following prizes:
First place prize – One-year full scholarship for the winning team towards studying at the Technion. *
* Students must be accepted to the program.
Second place prize – A 3D printer for the winning school
Third place prize – An Arduino set
Winning videos will be shared on Technion’s social media.
Click here to watch an example clip of an Israel’s birthday themed machine created by Technion students, as well as message from the President!
Click here to watch tips on building a Rube Goldberg Machine by Prof. Alon Wolf from the faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
Rules and Guidelines:
Team
A team consists of at least three students enrolled in the same day school. Students can be in different grades, however the team must be all high school students (grades 9-12). A teacher can serve as an advisor to the project, but all decision making and building should be done by the students. Students can either work on the machine at school or at home.
Machine goal
The final step of the machine must reveal a theme dealing with Israel’s 70th Birthday. Here is an explanation of the key terms:
Mechanical: The machine is a Rube Goldberg Machine and should be composed of every-day, recyclable materials.
Israel: The concept of this machine is related to Israel. Anything to do with Israel’s inventions, history and contribution to the world. Creativity is important!
Minimum/Maximum Steps and Israel Elements
Steps: 10-50
Israel Items: 3-20
Definitions:
STEP: A transfer of energy from one action to the next action. Identical transfers of energy in succession (e.g. 20 dominoes) are considered one step.
Examples of Steps:
- Falling dominoes hit a marble
- Marble rolls down track triggering a mousetrap at the bottom.
- Mousetrap snaps and pulls a string tied to it
INTERVENTION: Any action/touch done by a person to help the machine continue to operate after the machine has begun its run.
For rules and regulations, click here.
For more information, email us at apply@int.technion.ac.il
Deadline for entries: March 1, 2018
Registrater for the Technion School Challenge here.