Four teams of Penn State students design and construct a complicated machine that performs a routine and simple task. Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg was known for his "invention" cartoons, and today his creative genius is honored at colleges and universities across the nation at Rube Goldberg Competitions.

The winner at each location is invited to Purdue University, the first university in the nation to hold Rube Goldberg contests, for the national championship.

Each machine is judged on creativity, theme, success ratio, as well as how much it reflects the spirit of Rube Goldberg's cartoon contraptions.

Produced by Patrick Mansell.