Participants play in the cardboard playground during the 3rd Annual Rube Goldberg Contest and S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) celebration at the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, March 12, 2016.. A Rube Goldberg contraption is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg (1883–1970). the Rube Goldberg Contest and S.T.E.A.M. was presented by Heal the Bay Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and Time Warner Cable's Connect a Million Minds initiative.