Speedcubing

RGM Reflection My Rube Goldberg Machine is the PROTOTYPE-SR213. It accomplishes the simple task of lifting a cup. When I started brainstorming about the project, I wondered what I could do and how I could do it. When I finally came up with one idea, it was already time to make up two more ideas to pass the EDP. In the building stage, after I already chose what design I wanted to build, I made a bunch of changes. For one, I got rid of the part in the middle where a toy car rolled down a ramp, then hit another car, then hit a ball. I took that all out and I still had eight steps. Another change I made was instead of having a toy car roll down a ramp at the beginning, I changed it to a toy train down a bumpy hill of train tracks. I also used many Legos. I used it for my levers and my pulley instead of using a real pulley and wood levers. The one last big change was that I took away the screw and replaced it with a ramp. Those are the changes in my prototype phase. I encountered a lot of problems. One of which is measuring the Tetherball to hit the dominoes. Another problem was that I had a hard time with the levels of the project (because everything goes down). One more problem is that I had to get the ball onto the lever to lift up the cup and stay there. Once I made my prototype machine, I had most of the project done. When I finished the prototype, I realized that one of the platforms was too low and I switched it with something else. Another change I made…

A Rubik’s Cube was spotted on your dusty old shelf crammed with your parents’ dusty beloved books--don’t pretend like you didn’t see it with your peripheral vision--so you gave it a go. The countless finger-breaking, brain-grinding, eye-melting hours spent to just group six colours into their individual side, is the most satisfying feeling ever. This is what happened to me three years ago, and that last satisfying ‘U prime’ which lead to the first completion of a Rubik’s Cube, just made it “ma…

My tennis coach and piano teacher will never be able to fathom why I spent so much time for this moment. My heart was trying to escape my chest when the speakers called my name, as hours upon hours of frustration were dedicated to what would be (hopefully) only 20 seconds. My trembling hands began flat on a timer, and the judge unboxed the puzzle that engulfed my life for nearly all of high school. I picked up the Rubik’s cube, and began to solve. My first speedcubing competition was in…