Maryland family creates a quarantine Rube Goldberg machine to help you wash your hands

Record ID: 1553690

  • Title: Maryland family creates a quarantine Rube Goldberg machine to help you wash your hands
  • Date: 21st May 2020
  • Summary: INTERNET (MAY 20, 2020) (REUTERS) (MUTE) TWO SCREENSHOTS OF RUBEGOLDBERG.COM FRONT PAGE ANNOUNCING 'BAR OF SOAP GOLDBERG VIDEO CHALLENGE'
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2020 23:17
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Diel family Rube Goldberg bar of soap coronavirus soap wash your hands
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + LAUREL, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN FILM LOCATION
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + LAUREL, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN FILM LOCATION
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA003CF0I3WN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART QUALITY AS INCOMING
    Caitlin Diel waited in the shower as her brother started their chain-reaction machine, dropping a marble into a tube that sent a toy train speeding, a deodorant stick flying and a stuffed bunny racing along a zip line to finally shoot a bar of soap into her hands.
    Cheers erupted in their bathroom in Laurel, Maryland, where, after 106 failed attempts over six hours, the Diel children accomplished their goal and qualified to enter a video contest in the age of COVID-19: build a Rube Goldberg contraption that drops a bar of soap into someone's hands.
    "So confident!" Caitlin said as she stood in her swimsuit, hands cupped in anticipation of the catch that would get their video into the competition run by Rube Goldberg Inc, a nonprofit organization named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, who drew overly complex, zany inventions.
    New York-based Rube Goldberg Inc. holds an annual contest in which entrants string together everyday items to make complicated systems to accomplish a simple task.
    The coronavirus sparked this summer's mission to create a kooky 10 to 20-step chain reaction to deliver a bar of soap into someone's hands.
    Skincare company Beekman 1802 partnered with Rube Goldberg Inc. for the challenge. Each participant will receive two bars of Beekman 1802 soap.
    "Every single submission will get a bar of soap, a Rube Goldberg bar of soap," said the late cartoonist's granddaughter, Jennifer George.
    "You will get one for you and one to give to a first responder, somebody important out in the community," she said. "So get one, gift one."
    As the United States reopens, handwashing remains a key step for staying safe from the virus that has killed more than 93,000 people in the nation and more than 327,000 worldwide, health experts say.
    The contest's silliness is key to generating positive feelings about what may have become a negative, frightening experience for children.
    The contest has drawn at least 225 submissions from more than 33 states, cities as far away as Liverpool, England, and countries as distant as Mozambique. Winners are set to be announced on June 7.
    The Diel children - Madeline, 8, Caitlin, 11, and Ben, 13 - were the first to submit a video for the Rube Goldberg contest. They said the contest demanded brainstorming, cooperation and perseverance, and that the end result was something completely different from what they expected.
    "Remembering all the times that me and my family spent building that, putting it back together, it was great memories that completely erased the fear from my mind," Ben said.
    "When I hear 'Wash your hands' now, my mind goes to 'Ahhh, remember that Rube Goldberg machine that drew us all together - and also made us go partly insane?'" Caitlin said, laughing.
    Madeline added, "The real message that this Rube Goldberg machine is trying to do is like, don't be frightened about it. It's fun, not scary."
    (Production: Angela Moore, Barbara Goldberg and Dan Fastenberg)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains computer game or software screenshots. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing this clip.
Register