Engineering
Fresh Dig
Engineers vs Junkyard RC Car Death Match — Key Takeaways
Metal Puppy won CrunchLabs' Dirt Box Derby by combining a combat-robotics-grade motor with an 18 MPH fingertip speed, enabling self-righting recovery that outlasted five rival RC cars across three elimination events.
YouTubeMark Rober· Feb 21
New Haul
How to Escape Alcatraz With Basic Engineering — Key Takeaways
Frank Morris launched his Alcatraz escape raft at 11:40 p.m., landing precisely within the only 30-minute tidal window that made survival possible — a window he calculated without any modern data.
YouTubeMark Rober
Lasers vs Lightning- Which Is More Powerful? — Key Takeaways
A 100,000-amp capacitor (equivalent to one lightning strike) destroyed a crystal ball by metallicizing the glass — demonstrating that stored electrical discharge outperforms both high-powered lasers and mechanical force on dense transparent materials.
YouTubeMark Rober
Mark Rober vs Dude Perfect- Ultimate Robot Battle — Key Takeaways
The hidden "Trojan rat" robot (Fat Tail) inside the Cyber Tank — powered by a 16-pound flywheel at 3600 RPM driving a rack-and-pinion launch mechanism — is the decisive engineering trick, capable of launching 250 pounds 20 feet into the air.
YouTubeMark Rober
Lava vs Lasers - Which Is More Destructive? — Key Takeaways
A 3000-watt water-cooled laser and molten rock heated to 3000°F were tested head-to-head across seven destruction challenges, with lava winning most raw-power contests but laser taking the decisive final round by sinking a boat.
YouTubeMark Rober
Acid vs Lava- Testing Liquids That Melt Everything — Key Takeaways
Acid outperforms lava in destructive versatility — it bored through all 12 ice layers, dissolved a turkey leg efficiently, and can attack metal via corrosion, though plastic is immune to both.
YouTubeMark Rober
Backyard Squirrelympics 3.0- The Summer Games — Key Takeaways
Mark Rober built a seven-event backyard squirrel Olympics (ski jump, balance beam, Quick Drop, long jump, Nutcracker, Thunder Dome, high jump) won by Hubcap Hills after Walnut Estates was disqualified for using banned Russian walnuts smuggled by a rat named Fat Tail.
YouTubeMark Rober
From the Archive
World's Tallest Elephant Toothpaste Volcano — Key Takeaways
A five-ton steel flask bolted to concrete with 80 tons of clamping force across 33 quarter-inch bolts produced an elephant toothpaste column of 250 feet — nearly 5x the previous 60-foot Guinness record.
YouTubeMark Rober
Backyard Squirrel Maze 2.0- The Walnut Heist — Key Takeaways
Squirrels solved a 9-part obstacle course — including a spinning bar, moving brick wall, laser maze with pneumatic door, and combination safe — within days, using observable problem-solving strategies like speed-running the twist bar and cooperative navigation through air ducts.
YouTubeMark Rober
Backyard Squirrel Maze 1.0- Ninja Warrior Course — Key Takeaways
Squirrels mastered every stage of an 8-obstacle "Ninja Warrior" course within 1–2 days per obstacle, completing the full run in under 40 seconds — no commercial or DIY deterrent reliably stops them.
YouTubeMark Rober