Rube Around the World

The 2008 machine was built with the task of assembling a hamburger.  To be exact, we had to build a hamburger that consisted of one pre-cooked meat patty, two vegetables and two condiments sandwiched between two bun halves.  Based on a world travel theme, we traveled from Purdue to New York, London, France, Germany, Italy, Egypt, India, China, Mexico, and final back to Purdue for some football tailgating.  After approximately 4500 man hours put into the machine, we had built a 156 step machine that won 1st place at Regional competition, 1st place at National competition, and the People’s Choice Award.  Check below for photos and video of our travels action.
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The 2008 machine at Regional Competition.

The 2008 machine at National Competition.

Close-ups of the machine in action.  The final step was retrofitted to pour coffee for our appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, which unfortunately fell though.  However, this video survived as proof of concept for the coffee maker.  For the tests, we made coffee out of glass stirring beads, chunks of green foam and water. Tasty!

A time-lapse clip of what it takes to reset one of our machines.