More than 100 years after Rube Goldberg became known for designing many overcomplicated machines to do simple tasks, students at Anderson High School use his creativity to bring their own machines to life. Having over three decades of experience, David Perrel leads the Rube Goldberg team at AHS. On Saturday, Feb. 28, Perrel and his team will be competing in their first competition of the year against many schools in Indiana and neighboring states in Jac-Cen-Del High School.
There are very few contests and competitions the team attends. The Rube Goldberg Institute, led by Goldberg’s granddaughter Jenner George and family, host these kinds of events around Indiana. AHS’s rube goldberg team attended the competition in Indianapolis, IN, winning second place overall.
Ruben Garret Lucious Goldberg was an American cartoonist, author, engineer, and inventor. He was best known for his overcomplicated machines, created to complete simple tasks. His influence and popularity led to the creation of ‘Rube Goldberg Machines’, where students create their own versions of his machines. Competitions for these machines began to emerge as it gained popularity. Rube Goldberg competitions bring together many schools across the country, and sometimes other parts of the world.In the early 1990’s, Perrel attended one of his first Rube Goldberg events at Purdue University. Upon seeing it for the first time, Perrel knew it was something he wanted to be a part of, “ I was lucky enough to graduate from Purdue and actually see one of these events back in the early 1990s. It was something I wanted to do in the future.” Perrel became a teacher at Anderson Highland before it became a middle school in the early 2000’s, “We had quite a few years of machine building and success there.”
According to Perrel, creating a good machine can take months of work and dedication. With the team being mainly student led, there are many roles that come into play when building a machine “It can take two to three months to get what we would say is a good final product,” Perrel said. “We’re meeting after school for about two hours, two or three times a week, with around ten students putting those hours in.” Even though stuck with little time, the students make much progress.
Each year, the competitions require a goal to complete for the machine to be considered a Rube Goldberg Machine. This year, students chose a ‘pirate theme’, with the goal of the machine being to open a treasure chest. Students get to design a backdrop and how the machine will open the box. “We decided to make a
pirate theme with a kind of pirate treasure chest at the end. They’re doing a really good job with the decoration and theme.”
In the past, Anderson High School has won many awards, most of them being first, second, and third place. Over the years, Perrel has had many memorable experiences. He states “The experience of building the machine and solving problems together is what makes the program meaningful,” bringing the students together is his real goal. A few years ago, after winning first place at a regional competition at Purdue University, the team was driving home when one of the tires on their trailer burst. The project was destroyed after falling on the highway and being run over by a semi truck. Despite the machine being destroyed, the students did not quit but instead decided to rebuild the machine in just two weeks before their world competition. “That was probably the most memorable achievement because of the adversity that the kids overcame to succeed,” as their effort paid off when they received third place at the event.
The latest competition they have participated in, they received second place overall, even winning a best dressed award. Dressed in pirate hats and frock coats, the team only had five interventions.
As long as his students continue to show interest in the program, he will continue to lead the team.
