Clarkson Presidents Challenge
August 2022 - October 2022
As Ice Team Lead for Clarkson Ignite’s 2022 President’s Challenge, I helped design, fabricate, and operate a giant Rube Goldberg machine that successfully scored a hockey goal during a Clarkson Golden Knights game.
What's The Presidents Challenge?
On October 15, 2022, Clarkson University celebrated the inauguration of its 17th President, Marc P. Christensen. According to Clarkson tradition, each new president must score a goal against the Clarkson hockey team. As part of his inaugural address to the student body, President Christensen challenged students to design a giant Rube Goldberg machine that would score the goal on his behalf during a live hockey game against Syracuse University. Clarkson Ignite and its fellows accepted the challenge. Over the first seven weeks of the semester, more than 50 students from 15 academic groups came together to brainstorm, design, and construct the machine.
The logistics of the project presented a unique engineering challenge. The entire machine had to be deployed, operated, and removed from the ice within the three-minute period between the end of period play and ice resurfacing. It also could not leave loose material on the rink or damage the ice or the protective treatment on the Zamboni entrance-tunnel floor. As the ice-team lead, I was responsible for converting the designs for each section of the Rube Goldberg machine into modules that could slide across the ice and connect with one another after deployment.
Design Philosophy
My design centered on a skid plate made from ¾-inch plywood and finished with rubber T-molding. Commonly used as edge banding on arcade cabinets, the rubber molding provided a low friction contact surface on the ice. It could also be replaced rink side if it became damaged or scratched, allowing rehearsals to continue without risking damage to the skid plate.
Several alternative designs were also considered, including metallic blades similar to those used on ice skates and plates made from Delrin. Metallic blades were not selected because their relatively warm surfaces could transfer heat to the colder ice, potentially creating deep divots that could not be removed in a single pass with the Zamboni. Delrin plates were another viable alternative; however, the project’s short turnaround time made it impractical to source the required quantity of Delrin.
Construction and Integration
After each module was constructed, it was mounted onto one of the skid plates. Each plate was small enough for two people to move easily and safely while still providing a 4-by-8-foot build surface for attaching the module. Once on the ice, the modules were connected using either hook-and-eye mechanisms or PVC standoffs with end-cap receivers. Hook-and-eye mechanisms were used for modules that needed to directly abut one another, while PVC standoffs and end-cap receivers were used when a specific minimum or maximum spacing had to be maintained between modules.
Force transfer between the modules was completed with either a shock cord that when tensioned released a lynch pin retaining the next mechanism or a pad on the bottom of the module that when depressed started the next stage of the machine. Each module designer was responsible for selecting the appropriate trigger mechanism and coordinating it with the preceding module in the sequence.
After three days of rehearsals and minimal issues, the machine successfully scored a goal for President Christensen and was removed from the ice in two minutes and thirty seconds. This project challenged me to balance creative design with practical considerations such as material availability, ice preservation, rapid deployment, and system reliability. Leading the ice team also required me to coordinate the work of multiple designers and ensure that their individual modules functioned as part of a larger system.