Quality Mechanics: Bryan WIlliams., Kyle Hebner, and Michael Dunakin jour­neyed to Japan ear­lier this month to attempt to beat a world record for num­ber of steps on a Rube Goldberg machine. Photo Courtesy of Kyle Hebner

Three Ferris stu­dents recently had a one of a kind oppor­tu­nity to build a Rube Goldberg machine in Tokyo, Japan.

From Jan. 3 to 16, team mem­bers Kyle Hebner, Michael Dunakin and Bryan Williams, along with pro­fes­sor Thomas Hollen, expe­ri­enced the cul­ture and daily life of Japan. The team was invited to attempt to break the world record for steps in a Rube Goldberg machine, of which the Ferris team from 2007 held the pre­vi­ous record with 229 offi­cial steps.

The task with this machine was to take a pho­to­graph. There was some dis­pute, how­ever, on whether or not the record was broken.

“The short answer is, yes, we broke the record.  The long answer is, the Guinness rep­re­sen­ta­tive stepped out of the room when the machine ran, and she wouldn’t accept the video we took as proof enough,” said Hebner. “The machine failed to run after that.  In total, this machine had about 285 steps, 56 more then the 2007 machine.”

The team took the first seven or eight days of the trip to work on the machine, and Hebner described it as “the most mas­sive under­tak­ing any of us have been a part of.” Besides work­ing on the machine, the Ferris stu­dents also made time to sight see.

“Aside from the food, the best part about Japanese cul­ture is how polite every­one is.  It’s such a huge part of Japanese cul­ture to be respect­ful and cour­te­ous that I found myself won­der­ing why it’s so hard for every­one else to get along,” said Hebner.

Hebner also talked about an inter­est­ing café that they vis­ited where the servers dressed like maids and had the cus­tomers play a game of role play­ing through­out the meal.

“It was a lot of fun.  They even had a voice-over sta­tion where you could dub a short Anime,” said Hebner.

Japan is no stranger to the Rube Goldberg machine. While Hebner was not sure if they held com­pe­ti­tions, he said there is a tele­vi­sion com­pany who is well-known for their Rube Goldberg tran­si­tions between commercials.

The team updated the blog of the College of Engineering Technology through­out the trip. They wrote a short post let­ting every­one know they arrived safely, and Hebner authored a few posts about his thoughts on the trip and the cul­ture he was expe­ri­enc­ing. To read these posts, visit fer​ris​state​cet​.blogspot​.com.

“I’m glad I had the oppor­tu­nity to work in Tokyo with some of the most unique peo­ple I’ve ever met,” said Hebner. ν