Intelligent Rube Goldberg Using Vex Robotics Development System
Arif Şirinterlikçi, Sushil Acharya · 2020
Rube Goldberg development is commonly used in early engineering education, especially in first-year programs and introduction to engineering courses as well as secondary school engineering activities.Regardless of the problem, the concept of utilizing Rube Goldberg in engineering education is about having engineering students understanding the problem solving process by experiencing it.They generate a design and see it through its development for a successful outcome.In the process of developing Rube Goldberg mechanisms, the students are able to practice skills such as communication, teamwork, time and project management, and experimentation.Rube Goldberg projects also assist in maintaining students' interest in science, mathematics and engineering.These projects are great way to teach engineering applications of basic science concepts such as magnetic induction, gravity, friction, or drag.This paper starts with a background on Rube Goldberg mechanisms and their utilization in engineering education.However, the main focus is given to employment of microcontrollers in Rube Goldberg mechanisms.The authors worked with a multidisciplinary group of freshmen software and mechanical engineering students to complete an Intelligent Rube Goldberg mechanism to assemble cheese sandwiches.VEX Robotics Development System was selected to complete the task at hand.The project was accomplished by generating an automated assembly line with Rube Goldberg contraption elements controlled by a VEX microcontroller.The Robot C programming language was used for programming.The project details, project evaluation and student responses are also included to conclude this paper.