Rock Skip Robot- The Science of Perfect Rock Skipping

Shout out to Skippa the robot for her help on this one.

MUSIC-

Summary: I built a rock skipping robot with the help of my nieces and nephews to understand the perfect way to skip a rock. In the end we learned that 4 things matter most:

1) Rock angle of 20 degrees
2) Rock PATH angle of 20 degrees
3) Spin the rock as much as possible
4) Choose a rock that is flat on the bottom and as heavy as possible for you to still get to your max arm speed.

MERCH-

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I make videos like this once a month all year long while supplies last:

[CrucialMuzic]

This is how you can get kids to be so engaged and maybe
down the road to be future engineers :)
And you get some good quality family time, loved this so much

[DaveDoesCarpentry]

Spotting your son in this video, and now knowing that he is your son, makes me happy

[retrograded]

My son yells at me from upstairs. "DAD, DAD! You won't believe this! Mark Rober is skipping rocks at Lake Cavanaugh!" My family has had a place on Lake Cavanaugh for over 50 years and not that far from where this video was shot. Our place is on South Shore Drive just across from the big island. We go there every July 3rd. My son has been a fan of yours since we were trying to gain an advantage at the Pinewood Derby three years ago. This video made my son's day. Keep up the good work.

[TheMexicanKidGamr]

Its crazy that one of those kids is his son and we never knew it, Man is goated 🐐🐐

[bencushwa]

Fun egg drop story since you mentioned it at the very end. My dad is a retired architect, and in college one of his engineering classes had an egg drop competition. Lightest structure to have an egg survive the drop wins, yadda yadda yadda.

Well, my dad asked the professor where they were holding the competition and it turns out that it was from the roof of a single story building, throwing the eggs into a grassy lawn. He then asked the professor how many tries they got and he could try as many times as he wanted.

So my dad bought two dozen eggs, went up to the roof, and started tossing. Eventually, one landed without breaking, which meant he won with a structure of zero weight.

They changed the rules of the competition after that....

[skaughtsman]

I'm impressed he is teaching his nephews and nieces to engineer. And making it fun at the same time.

And there's the fact that he's doing the same thing for us on YouTube.

[deemaa.]

I can almost hear mark saying this


"I used to suck at rock skipping
but im great at engineering.
Which automatically makes me great at rock skipping."

[youtubecensorspeace]

Can you imagine how advanced we would be if everyone had an uncle like this guy? I don't know if those kids are into engineering or not but without any doubt he inspires creativity even beyond his family.

[raaaahhhhhhh]

“Ongoing struggle to be the favorite uncle.”
My question is how he isn’t yet.

[allycat]

imagine your uncle pulling out a rock skipping robot and your immediate reaction is “I knew it”

[betsyh]

Goes on family vacation

Nobody

Mark: so here is this fun engineering project I thought we could do


He would definitely be my favorite Uncle

[asdf-geqm]

imagine being an adult and have all the children you know just automatically assume your going to use a robot to win

[CheeseMasterSports]

WIRED: Its impossible to skip a rock 89 times
Mark Rober: Hold my beer

[moracabanas]

What could be really admired in this video is your patience with children since you have managed to draw your attention to the scientific method, engineering, data science, where they have had a great time launching rocks, taking notes and numbers, tables, angles, and have participated in the recording of the video with their own smartphones. I wish we could all learn like this, to teach the new generation in a healthy way, transferring the learning process to the games, instead of just criticizing the way we think they miss the technology that is within their reach. In addition, this is filmed in an absolutely incredible environment, and teaching them the importance of respect for the environment in technological development in the process. I have learned a lot from this video. Thank you for sharing your inspiring work with us and with the children

[DeeFightingDreamer]

I think what's even better about Mark building the robot is the fact that he didn't came with it already perfect, he allowed the kids to be a part of the trial and error stage, to experience what it's like to try out a bunch of variables, and then experience the immense happiness when one of them finally works. That alone would probably make me inclined to start doing my own projects.

[finnhuizing]

1:30 the kid saying "I knew it" lmao they just know he's going to cheat at this point

[CharleyTank]

I think this video stole my childhood dreams I love it.

[WyvernApalis]

Be like kids go on school camp
Everyone else: 5-6 skips
Those kids: 50 skips

[kalebbeer]

I didn't notice your son the first time 😃. Can totally see what you were talking about in your more recent video but he seems to be handling the noise like a champ. Honestly, I use to consider you one of the most compassionate YouTubers I subscribed too but you continue to impress. All the best man...

[milosnovakovic]

Mark is probably the best and the nicest guy ever