Rube Goldberg machines are becoming a very popular marketing tool for companies. They stimulate audiences with their combination of enormous complexity and creative insanity!

Honda were one of the first to use the Rube Goldberg machine using parts from the Honda Accord. Their 2003 advert “The Cog” [cite] was immediately viral and spread like wildfire across the web. Others later followed, including the band OK Go.

With each new marketing campaign, the bar is set ever higher than the last and the contraptions become even more complex than before. Split second timing is required to get everything to work exactly as designed, ergo software can play an important role in creating a Rube Goldberg. Due to a computers ability to precisely measure time in microseconds (millionths of a second) it can make the most time critical ideas plausible.

As the contraption is built for a single purpose and will probably only used once, it makes sense to hire a team that can rapidly develop software to your requirements. The very same services we offer to start-up companies to help them turn an idea into a working prototype can be used to quickly develop “throw away” products, such as software and hardware combinations (like the Rube Goldberg) for advertising campaigns.

We have a long history of interoperating software and hardware in time-critical environments (including work for the British Ministry of Defence), so we are perfectly suited to this kind of contract. Feel free to contact us to discuss your ideas!