b-uncut

10 Awesome Examples of Machine & Mechanical Art | Legends W.Heath Robinson and Rube Goldberg

// July 7th, 2010 // b-inspired, b-legendary // b-uncut

TV shows like Scrapheap Challenge, Robot Wars and Fun House would never have existed without these two legends who are responsible for inspiring millions. Saying that, their wild contraptions were probably down to Da Vinci’s eclectic efforts. Either way, these top ten examples of machine & mechanical art (or is it kinetic now?) have all put a smile on our face at one time or another. Bow to the industrial age of cogs, levers and pulleys…

William Heath Robinson (1872 – 1944) was an English cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for drawings of eccentric machines and the term “Heath Robinson” has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption. Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist who loved to draw incredibly complicated machines designed to complete wonderfully simple tasks. Incarnations of these legends’ machines have inspired films, commercials and competitions because of their mesmerizing and entertaining functionality.

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Honda’s take on the Robinson/Goldberg machines using only parts found in their car has become an incredibly acclaimed commercial. It’s about as simple as they come, but still incredibly entertaining.

(Images via badvance, crave)

(Images via mix206, xcheaphotel, greenpointtoys, shapingyouth)

The board game Mouse Trap is probably the most well known Goldberg/Robinson inspired machine, which isn’t surprising, considering it’s been entertaining children since it was first produced in 1963, and is still being widely sold in stores today. Real life incarnations have been created at makers fairs and Burning Man.

(Images via designrelated, mymodernmet, thetodaynews, soundlounge, boardsmag)

The band OK Go has become notorious for having intricate and entertaining music videos. They’ve been featured doing complex choreography involving several treadmills for their song “Here It Goes Again”, stop motion filming for “End Love”, and a wonderfully intricate Rube Goldberg video for “This Too Shall Pass”.

(Images via menupages, bloggersbase, mbd2, northfield)

The variety of Rube Goldberg & Heath Robinson machines are entertaining, especially how complicated they can become when they’re simply placed against a flat board. The sprawling, room spanning ones tend to be the most interesting, especially as this is where most of the DIY machine creation tends to concentrate.

(Images via kotaku, humaninbox)

Manypeople utilize computer environments with already designed physics engines to create their own machines without having them dominate their living rooms. The computer game Half Life has a sandbox that has spawned an incredible number of machines utilizing objects found within the game.

(Images via goldbergcollective, goodcomics)

Rube Goldberg’s original cartoons were quite popular when they were first published, and his inventiveness led these machines to be featured in everything from car commercials to the film “Back to the Future”. The popularity of these machines doesn’t seem to be fading.

(Images via burgerdaddy, gizmodo)

Purdue holds an annual Rube Goldberg machine competition, where college students from around the country compete to create the most consistently functional, complicated, and entertaining piece of hardware to complete a specific task. Purdue came in first in the 2007 competition by creating a machine that could assemble a pre-cooked hamburger with bun, and several condiments.

(Images via boingboing, anime-engine)

Rube Goldberg art is decently popular, though I have a feeling most people are less in favor of the cartoon and sculpted versions now that so many working options are available for viewing.

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