Howdy, everyone! Today we have the contest results for the MacroFab Design Contest: Useless Machine Sponsored by Mouser Electronics. I would like to thank everyone who spent the time to design and build a totally useless project and entered the contest. I would also like to thank our four guest judges for volunteering their time and energy to help us judge the entries. The judges are (in no particular order…actually in alphabetical order by first name):
Each entry to the contest was judged based on the following criteria:
- Does the project follow the spirit of “Useless”.
- How interesting is the entry?
- How well is the project documented?
- Are the description, details, instructions, components and build instruction filled out?
- Does the project work and is it complete?
- Does the project conform to the contest rules?
For this contest, we have four winners. Three winners were picked by our judges and the fourth winner was picked by Stephen and me on episode 188 of the MacroFab Engineering Podcast.
Useless Machine Winners!
First Place

Parker Newman with the Room Temperature Cup Holder
Second Place

Dillon with the Clap-Activated Applause Machine
Third Place

SirDan with the Unpluginator
Podcast Favorite

Jeffrey Bernath with the Mouse Controlled Mouse Controller
Notable Entries
muttonchopsjoe‘s project What does the Fox Say? See n’ say
Mason‘s project Cat Detector
Vije Miller‘s project Arduino Plasma Toilet Air Freshener Fail
Wrapping Up
Congratulations to the four winners and again thank you to everyone that entered into the MacroFab Design Contest: Useless Machine Sponsored by Mouser Electronics. The support from our community was amazing! Stephen and I are already coming up with ideas for next years design contest. If you have any ideas, email us or join our Slack Channel to discuss your project and contest ideas with us!