Rube Goldberg Machine

A Rube Goldberg machine is a chain reaction type machine designed to do a simple task in an overly complicated way

                                                                       Task                                                                        

Me and my group were given the task to create a Rube Goldberg machine, we had 9 build days to create it.  The theme of our Rube Goldberg machine was Minions. We had a rocket that represented the rocket Gru was in when he stole the moon, We had a board painted yellow to represent the minions,  and the final piece triggers a video of Gru stealing the moon. The main task is to create a working Rube Goldberg machine with 10+ steps, 3 elements of design, 4 energy transfers, and 5 simple machines. 

My group came across a few problems over the build days. Some of us were off task which lead to some things not being done, and we didn't have our whole second board done at all. We had to rush and finish it almost the last build day. It wasn't able to work very well but we were able to communicate as a team and finish it. It also didn't look like it was minions theme at all. I definitely think we could have done better on that, but we tried. I could have told some of my teammates to help out more or even just I could have gotten more done. 

Physics concepts

Force - The push or pull on something. The equation is F = ma. 

Velocity - The rate at which something travels in a direction. The equation is v = d/t. 

Acceleration - The rate at which something changes velocity. The equation is a = v/t. 

Energy Transfer - The maintenance of energy while moving it from one form to another.

Potential Energy - The amount of energy in an object at rest. The equation is PE = mgh

Kinetic Energy - The amount of energy in an object in motion. The equation is KE = ½mv^2

Mechanical Advantage - Mechanical advantage is calculated in two ways: real and ideal. Real adjustments for things like friction and other types of energy loss, while ideal does not.

Reflections

During the 9 work days we had, my group definitely worked hard at communication. We all talked about what we needed to get done, whether we really got that done or not. We all told each other what to do or what needs to be done better. We needed some more empathy, sometimes we got off track and didn't go about it well. We never really gave one another words of advice or anything. 

I have to say that one of my group members did do more for our group than the rest of us. We could have done better on working all together and fully getting a plan on who does what for the day. We should have worked harder has a group and been way more productive during our building days. We rushed to buy materials at the last second and we should have planned it out more.

In the future I could encourage myself and my group to do the best we can. To have us always stay on track and get our work done on time. To follow our timeline so we keep track of our work, and to make sure we're all working together. My group could have done way better if we followed those steps and thought about what we had to get done before we started messing around.