A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction–type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and (impractically) overly complicated way. Usually, these machines consist of a series of simple unrelated devices; the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal.
Rube Goldberg machine designers participating in a competition in New Mexico
George Rhoads' kinetic art sculptures, such as Archimedean Excogitation (pictured), share many elements with Rube Goldberg machines.
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg, better known as Rube Goldberg, was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor.
Goldberg in 1929
Goldberg in an issue of The Moving Picture World, 1916
Advertisement (1916)
Advertisement (1916)