Drop a coin in a gumball machine in Palo Alto and, a while later, you receive your gumball, except this happens by way of a kicking skeleton leg in Chicago, a ball bouncing off a sub-woofer in Munich, a pouring tea-pot in Shanghai, and countless steps more, involving everything from a Tickle-Me Elmo doll to a floating pillar of bubbles.
This feat of engineering is the brainchild of global design company IDEO, ranked as one of the 10 most innovative companies of 2008 by Fast Company, and it's worth checking out.
Yes, clocking in at 14 minutes, it's a bit much to watch in one stretch, but keep it running in the background and check in on it once in a while. It's absolutely fascinating.
IDEO Global Chain Reaction from IDEO Labs on Vimeo.
For more on possibly the world's largest Rube Goldberg machine, check out the article on IDEO Labs.
