Feb 11
20070
Art, Physics, Technology, Television, Video
car children cog contraption Honda Japan machine NHK parts Pythagora Switch Rube Goldberg show TV
Pythagorean Devices And Automobile Parts
Japan’s national public broadcasting organization NHK is similar to the United Kingdom’s BBC and, to a lesser extent, the United States’s PBS.
NHK broadcasts a cool kids’ show by Masahiko Satō and Masumi Uchino called Pythagora Switch (Pitagora Suitchi, ピタゴラスイッチ). Basically, it’s an educational puppet show for young children. But what makes it awesome are the interstitials between the segments where they show Pythagorean devices (Pitagora Sōchi, ピタゴラ装置) or what we would call Rube Goldberg contraptions. These machines were created by Keio University professor Masahiko Sato from various common household objects. Click here to view the video clip or view the video clip below:
This also reminds me of the commercial that Wieden+Kennedy did for the Honda Motor Company, where a sequence of moving car parts taken from a Honda Accord is shown cascading towards the climax: the display of a fully-assembled Accord vehicle. Click here to view the commercial or click on the image below: