world record-breaking rube goldberg machine

'time machine', the 244-step rube goldberg device created by 17 students at purdue university, holds the current world record for largest rube goldberg device

university students comprising the purdue society of professional engineers (PSPE) rube goldberg team have set a new world record
for the largest rube goldberg machine ever created: a 244-step device called 'time machine', which playfully traces the history
of the planet from big bang to apocalypse before accomplishing the year's goal: the watering of a flower.

regulations for the annual competition at purdue university require that the device be built within a six foot cube
and accomplish a particular task (this year, the watering of a plant) within two minutes.

the 17-person PSPE team invested over 3500 man-hours into this year's record-breaking machine, whose flawless run
for the world record took one minute and 43 seconds. a timeline along the top of the device demarcates 'the big bang',
'evolution', 'the ice age', 'the stone age', 'ancient egypt', 'medieval era', 'world war II', 'the cold war', 'technological revolution',
and 'apocalypse', and an arrow moves along the timeline to correspond with the action occurring below. plastic dinosaurs
are hit with a 'meteor' and become extinct, dropping via a trapdoor into the base of the machine; stonehenge rises from the ground;
the pyramids are built; and columbus in his ship falls off the edge of the world before we reach the modern era, whose steps feature
the raising and lowering of turntable records and the printing of a sheet of paper.

for the finale, the four horsemen-- here bob barker, dirty harry, darth vader, and woody the cowboy (from 'toy story')--
trigger the apocalypse, in which sirens blare, rockets fall from the skies, and smoke fills the machine, before fabric panels
drop to cover the entire device. a flower rises from the base, is successfully watered by a small pipe, and immediately
begins 'growing', its pot raised via a telescoping mechanism.

'our team was founded in 1998 with the solitary intention of competing at the rube goldberg machine competition,
held annually at purdue university. that first year, the machine was constructed using little more than cardboard and duct tape.
thirteen years later, machines are designed with precision using virtually any material. with our team’s long history
we have developed an extensive list of connections that have helped us solve virtually every problem we have encountered.'

the team is currently in discussions with the discovery channel to help build the world's largest rube goldberg machine
in new york city during the summer of 2011, with details forthcoming by the discovery channel.