Purdue News
Purdue News
|
|
March 31, 2004 Every vote counts at the National Rube Goldberg ContestWhile the eyes of the nation will be focused this presidential election year on the strides made to improve the voting process, National Rube Goldberg teams on Saturday (4/3) will take a step backward to offer a lighthearted look at the balloting process. This year's teams are charged with the task of combining their knowledge of engineering and technology to create machines that will select, mark and cast a ballot in no less than 20 steps. The competition honors the late cartoonist Rube Goldberg, who specialized in drawing whimsical, complicated machines to perform simple tasks. Journalists can begin coverage of the 16th annual National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at 10:30 a.m. before the event begins at 11 a.m. in Lambert Fieldhouse on Purdue University's West Lafayette, Ind., campus. Highlights from the contest will be available via satellite uplink from 4-4:15 p.m. EST on Saturday (4/3). Satellite information: U/L TYPE: Analog Band Type: Ku-Band SBS6/05 (74'W) U/L: 14123.000 Mhz Vertical D/L: 11823.000 Mhz Horizontal Allocated Bandwidth ()MHZ): 43.000
Last year's local winner, representing Purdue's chapters of Theta Tau and Phi Sigma Rho, used a Purdue sports-themed machine to select, crush and pitch a 12-ounce aluminum can into a recycling bin. The group went on to win the national competition and later appeared with their winning machine on "The Late Show with David Letterman." In addition to a satellite uplink of contest highlights, a news release and photos will be issued the day of the contest. An ISDN line is available for radio interviews, which must be arranged prior to the contest. Video b-roll is available by request. A link to the competition story will be available after the contest on Purdue's home page. Journalists planning to cover the contest should contact Jesica Webb, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu. The day of the contest, Webb can be reached via pager at (765) 423-7326 or by cell phone at (765) 427-4178. Questions regarding student teams and the news release should be directed to Matt Holsapple, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2073, mholsapple@purdue.edu.
Related Web sites: Judges cast ballots for election-themed Rube Goldberg machine
|