Rube Goldberg machine takes Christmas tree lighting ceremony to the next level
Trying to out decorate your neighbors is a time-honored Christmas tradition. But if you just can't top your neighbor's light display, then consider constructing a ridiculously overcomplicated way of turning your Christmas lights on. Follow the lead of Latvian company Scandiweb and build an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine to turn your holiday decor from magical to amazingly absurd.
According to David Grossman for Popular Mechanics: "Rube Goldberg may lend his name to crazy contraptions, but he wasn't the only one to ever build them. Deliberately over-engineered machines for simple tasks is a concept that appears in a number of cultures ranging from the children's stories of India's Sukumar Ray to Denmark's Robert Storm Petersen. Now Latvia is on the scene with the world's longest ever.
The machine took two months to build, funded by Latvian company Scandiweb. Using 412 individual parts, which include a fan and a coffee maker, it takes ten minutes to run through all the steps to turn on the lights of a Christmas tree. The event was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records adjudicator Seyda Subasi Gemici, who observed from beginning to finish."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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