Liberty Science Center brought the science of motion and machinery to life during Extreme Machines — a nine-day celebration of engineering, innovation, and imagination where guests experienced the magic of mechanics from February 14 - 22, 2026. Discoveries ranged from the whimsical engineering of Strandbeest and chain-reactions of Rube Goldberg machines to LSC’s brand new Showcase Zone featuring the brilliance of young engineers and seasoned experts alike with their innovative machines.

At its core, Extreme Machines is what Liberty Science Center does best: inspiring and exciting the next generation of potential scientists and engineers. This mission was brought to fruition when LSC graciously welcomed Questionable Engineering (QE) to kick off the first weekend.

QE is the first Robotics Competition team that was founded to expand access to STEM and robotics opportunities for students in Hudson County, to showcase a few of their cutting-edge robots to the public. “We began as a small group of passionate students who wanted to create a space where hands-on engineering and outreach could thrive even when schools didn’t have established teams,” team leader, Dave Slurz stated. “Over time, we’ve grown into a competitive team focused not only on building robots, but on community engagement, STEM education, and creating pathways for younger students to explore engineering.” QE represents what happens when curiosity meets opportunity: students strategically solving problems, building innovative machines, and inspiring the next generation to do the same.

Oscar the TrashCan Robot

Crowd favorite, Oscar the TrashCan Robot was created to engage audiences in a fun and approachable way. Oscar was QE’s first outreach initiative and a way for founding members to grow their technical skills. Since then, this eye-catching bot has become their mascot that has attended all of their events. During Extreme Machines, LSC guests were given the chance to take the controls and have Oscar cruise around PSE&G Court, transforming spectators into operators.

2025 Competition Robot

QE also unveiled their 2025 Competition Robot, which highlights advanced mechanical systems, programming of First Robotics competition gameplay. Guests also saw an exclusive preview of their 2026 work-in-progress competition robot, showing realtime insight into the engineering design process from concept to prototype. This was a rare opportunity to uncover what competitive robotics is really like: strategic, fun, and student-driven.

For hands-on fun especially "geared" toward younger guests, QE built laser-cut devices they could use to explore the mechanisms of gear systems in motion.They also set up a robot driving maze, where guests could operate and drive small robots around.

Liberty Science Center believes the future of innovation starts with experiences like these, where students aren’t just learning about engineering, they’re leading it.