March 28, 2007

MEDIA ADVISORY
Rube Goldberg teams use creativity, inefficiency to squeeze juice from an orange

The teams for the 2007 Rube Goldberg National Machine Contest are from Purdue; Penn State, Centre County, Pa.; University of Central Florida, Orlando; Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.; University of Texas-Austin, Austin, Texas; Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich.; Texas A&M, College Station, Texas; University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati; and Washington State Community College, Marietta, Ohio.

This year's teams are challenged to make juice from oranges and pour the juice into a cup in no fewer 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 19th annual contest at 9:30 a.m. before the event begins at 10:30 a.m. in the Purdue Armory. The contest is free and open to the public.

Video highlights from the contest will be available via satellite uplink after the contest from 3-3:15 p.m. ET on Saturday (March 31).

Satellite information:

Title: "Purdue News"

U/L TYPE: Analog

Band Type: Ku-Band

SBS-6 Transponder 15

U/L: 14372.00 (Vertical)

D/L: 12072.00 (Horizontal)

In addition to a satellite uplink of contest highlights, a news release with competition results and photos will be issued the day of the contest and will be available on the Purdue home page at https://www.purdue.edu. An ISDN line is available for radio interviews, but journalists must arrange interviews prior to the contest. Video b-roll is available by request.

Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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