Marble Run

A Marble Run is a creative ball-run contraption, made from familiar materials, designed to send a rolling marble through tubes and funnels, across tracks and bumpers, and into a catch at the end.

At the course I attended at the exploratorium in San Francisco the goal was getting the marble to travel from the top of the board to a target at the bottom as slowly as possible. That’s only one possible starting point for what can quickly turn into an addictive experience. You can set many challenges for your self and your class, the fun is in trying to solve them: make the marble travel uphill for a section, or go up and then come back down; try to make a loop-de-loop, or an elevator to bring the marble back to the top of the board; or even use multiple marbles for more complex chain-reactions.

Special thanks to Craig and Peter for sharing the enthusiasm for this initial dip into the Maker space arena. We are hoping to establish access to the marble run, various electronic projects and some basic robotics in the coming term.

If anyone has some Lego, or such alike, they would like to donate to the school's maker space, it would be much appreciated.

Paul Reynolds
PC Arts