Awesome Machines

Ben Tardif says he’s been working for over three years on the construction of his complex contraption, a kinetic sculpture that sends marbles on a seemingly endless ride through 25 different environments, along twisty roads, down tiny staircases, and even off a ski jump.

BuzzFeed Blue compiled this video featuring a variety of robots and automated assembly line machines doing what they do best. We think the clip should have been much longer, but we were still transfixed by these mechanical marvels.

We’ve seen all manner of Rube Goldberg machines over the years, but never one as precise as this one from Seiko, that uses some 1200 watch parts and watchmaking tools in its design. It required a little human assist along the way, but it’s still pretty awesome.

Musician and inventor Martin Molin explains the complex mechanisms behind his genius musical contraption, the Wintergatan. Beyond the marble machine, there are drums made from coasters, a snare that uses basmati rice, among other crazy bits. Part two here.

This odd contraption by artist Peter William Holden uses a series of eight robotic arms which move fedoras in sync with a musical track. By the end, you’ll be imagining a group of invisible dancers wearing said hats. Also, we’re pretty sure we found their feet.

Another video to file under the “oddly satisfying” category, Cpack Pendle Machinery shows off the SP7, their latest “skin packaging” machine – a device which uses heat and a vacuum to seal oddly-shaped items into flat packages.

This truly amazing musical instrument was created by Swedish musician Martin Molin (aka Wintergatan). It uses an incredibly complicated mechanism to produce notes and rhythms using human input and the sound of 2,000 falling metal marbles. (Thanks Paul!)

Like a Spirograph on steroids, Joe Freedman’s Cycloid Drawing Machine uses a series of highly adjustable geared discs for create incredibly complex geometric images. Skip to 1:00 if you don’t care to hear how amazing the cardboard box was. Or skip to 3:31 to see it in action.

“Finding a better way is all I do. You’re welcome, world.” For once comedic inventor Simone Giertz made a machine that doesn’t threaten to maim her. It’s still a piece of crap, but hey, baby steps. Check out her Pop Sci article for more.

Contrary to Redditor tytyvm’s experience, this isn’t the most amazing useless machine we’ve ever seen. But it’s quite witty and has a variety of sassy responses hidden in its tiny body.

This incredibly complex timepiece comes from design students at the Tohoku University of Art & Design in Japan. The intricate wooden machine uses more than 400 precision components to move an stylus that writes, then erases the current time like an Etch-a-Sketch.

LEGO machine building expert Arthur Sacek was approached by Arrow Electronics to design and build a LEGO contraption that could take a sheet of paper and turn it into an airplane. The result was not only a cool machine, but a great commercial. Behind the scenes video here.

These unusual wheels have found their way onto fork-lifts and other machinery in recent years, allowing vehicles to maneuver in all directions, and in very tight spaces without a steering rack. Here, we see some Robotnik Summit XL OMNIs strutting their stuff.

YouTuber berlagawesome spent a total of 140h creating and trying to get his 175-step Rube Goldberg machine to work completely. There’s a thrift shop’s worth of odds and ends in there, and halfway through we actually forgot what its purpose was. Single camera perspective here.

A mesmerizing look at the dexterity and speed of a GROB-WERKE CNC milling machine, as it sculpts a solid block of metal into a precision part. The way it moves the object to meet the cutting blade is like a robotic ballet. More here.

Get a look at the inner workings of a steam engine with this impressive model built entirely from glass, by master glassblower Michal Zahradník. A couple of the engines have been made, then auctioned off on eBay. Keep an eye out here for future auctions.

Lock Block Ltd. built this custom truck which allows them to build free-standing tunnels by using the roller-covered, arched rear of the truck as a temporary support as their brick structures are set into place. We recommend changing your playback speed to 2x.

Physicists will quickly point out that magnets aren’t truly permanent, and energy is never truly “free,” but that doesn’t make inventor Reidar Finsrud’s wonderful and extraordinarily efficient kinetic sculpture that appears to move on its own forever any less impressive.

LEGO fanatics Astonishing Studios have made not one or two, but a whole houseful of fun and functional vending machines built from LEGO bricks and Mindstorms mechanisms. Whether McNuggets, Reese’s, Doritos, or Cheerios, are your thing, they’ve got you covered.

Modern hammer drills get their name because they provide short, sharp, hammering action to help make quick work of difficult materials like rock. This crazy antique contraption uses actual hammers to smack a drill bit into a boulder, achieving a similar result, albeit more slowly.

Gone are the days when farmers need workers to individually pluck vegetables from the earth, instead relying on marvels of engineering, like the Dewulf GKIIISE carrot harvester, a machine that can yank carrots from the ground, and remove their leafy green tops automatically.

Ever wondered how to mow grass on the side of steep hills? This crazy contraption is a motorized push mower that can handle the most challenging of terrain, thanks to its huge studded wheels. Though it looks like it crushes grass, more than mows it.

On a quest to keep his holiday turkey from drying out, madman Colin Furze created this insane device that cooks a bird from the inside out by rapidly spinning it as boiling hot water courses through its innards. It’s still not as dangerous as frying a turkey.