The whimsical but surprisingly dark world of Rube Goldberg machines | Hacker News Reader

The whimsical but surprisingly dark world of Rube Goldberg machines

theverge.com

38 pointsHooke10 comments

With no mention of Heath Robinson?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson

I had to look up Rube Goldberg when I started getting exposed to more US culture. But it has a direct translation into UK culture, W. Heath Robinson had a similar reputation for drawing absurd, complicated machinery.

Interesting.

"It was also the era of increasing automation, and increasing concern about automation, exemplified in Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 masterpiece Modern Times. One of the film’s dystopian curiosities, the Billows Feeding Machine, invented by Mr. J. Widdecombe Billows, has a distinctly Rube Goldbergian quality to it — this is likely no coincidence, as Goldberg and Chaplin were friends. "The Billows Feeding Machine will eliminate the lunch hour, increase your production, and decrease your overhead," the film’s narrator announces. "Don’t stop for lunch: be ahead of your competitor." A factory worker is strapped into the feeding machine by his neck; the device malfunctions spectacularly."

Funniest clip ever! https://youtu.be/n_1apYo6-Ow

Requisite Pitagora Switch Rube Goldberg compilation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzAQ-jYfEqA

I love these videos, but I have to watch them on mute because the jingle makes me furious. Probably just misophonia.

One of the most impressive recent rube goldbergs was a commercial Honda did to advertise their Accord. It was made with parts from the car and shows off several technologies such as automatic windshield wipers:

http://youtu.be/bl2U1p3fVRk

I question the authenticity of this now. I remember this coming out, but from what i've recently learned about the automotive ad industry is that this is all cg. And basically all car commercials in the last decade have actually been some of the most advanced "realistic" rendering.

It's still a cool vid tho.

Edit: Watched it again, it is clearly cg.

You are wrong. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cog_%28advertisement%29

Well, Its not sans-cg. There are parts thats scream cg to me, and while I believe it's possible over all, there is still a lot of post going on. The wiki doesn't give any definite answers other than it's clearly both.

Edit: the part that tells me the most is near the end when they show the full console, and then the speakers on dowel rods.

> "The final cut of "Cog" consists of two continuous sixty-second dolly shots taken from a technocrane, stitched together later in post-production [...] needed only limited post-production work, as the decision had been made early on to eschew computer-generated imagery wherever possible. [...] Several sections also required minor video editing, such as re-centering the frame to stay closer to the action, removal of wires, highlighting a spray of water, and adjusting the pace for dramatic purposes"

I have also seen the 'making of...' short film about 'Cog' and that, too, confirms that CG was not used to create the machine. All the interactions between the car parts are genuine physical interactions.

I believe you're correct about post-production, though. It seems from the references in the Wiki article that the usual editing and manipulation took place, but none of that added any fake car parts or fake interactions.

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