Judaica: Rube Goldberg like robotic Hanukkah menorah lighter

Technion students design a Rube Goldberg like devise that lights a hanukkiah.

Robots are taking an increasing role in fields as diverse as manufacturing and medicine, but is there also a role for robots in religious rituals? Students at Israel's Technion engineering school in Haifa have built a Rube Goldberg like robotic devise that can light a Hanukkahmenorah (see video).

According to the text accompanying the video,

"Technion students Eyal Cohen and Tomer Wassermann from the Mechanical Engineering faculty and Matan Orian and Dvir Dukhan of Industrial Engineering and Management take on the challenge to build a Rube Goldberg machine that lights the Chanukah menorah. Hanukkah is the holiday of miracles and here is another one.

"Eyal Cohen and Matan Orian are winners of the annual Technion Dr. Bob's TechnoBrain competition, supported by Dr. Robert Shillman in memory of Technion student Neev-Ya Durban. The film was made in the Computer Integrated Manufacturing and RoboticsLaboratory in the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management."

Hanukkah begins on Saturday evening December 8, 2013 after Havdalah. For the foreseeable future most of us will light our menorahs the old fashioned way.

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