Camp CrunchLabs

This is a series of physical challenges

that, honestly, don't look super challenging,

except for the fact they all have to be performed…

While wearing a suit made entirely of Velcro.

Welcome to Camp CrunchLabs.

I'm Mark Rober,

here to tell you to brace yourself for your least boring summer ever.

If you happen to be a first-timer, then grab your sunscreen and buckle in,

'cause here's a little taste of what you're in for.

But this summer's unlike any other year in camp,

because if you haven't noticed from those clips,

we're not in my usual backyard.

In fact, we're not even on planet Earth, because this is Space Camp CrunchLabs.

I figured if we could build SAT GUS and send a stinking satellite to space

to take everyone's picture for free,

why couldn't we also just send my entire backyard,

including the squirrels?

And since we're doing eight weeks of camp this year,

I figured why not visit a new planet each week,

while our special guests explore the solar system with us,

using my hand-built junkyard rocket ship.

Now I'll dig into exactly where we are in a second.

But first, if you're new to Camp CrunchLabs, here's how it works.

This is the first of eight videos that we've released right here on Netflix.

We'll have guests and mega experiments all done right here with me,

and then we'll also have the at-home Super Challenges,

which are all done by you.

They're your chance to show me and everyone else

your creativity and engineering skills.

And for me, seeing all your submissions rolling throughout the summer

is even better than sleeping in for two months with no homework.

And I watch every one of these. It's truly my favorite part of the job.

And every qualifying Super Challenge submitted has a completely equal chance

to win the ultimate CrunchLab experience, known as the Platinum Ticket.

- - CrunchLabs!

This means you'll come right out here to CrunchLabs,

where you'll hang out with me and the whole CrunchLabs team.

You'll get to go down the fireman's piston.

- I'm scared. -

And we'll do a bunch of fun experiments.

We'll eat way too much pizza.

And, of course, we'll go all out in an epic CrunchLabs Nerf battle.

So here are the challenges.

First up is a Rube Goldberg machine.

Now, a Rube Goldberg machine is basically a chain reaction you build,

usually to accomplish a simple task,

like turning on a light or feeding the dog.

But the twist is, this summer, some part of the chain reaction

has to include water.

So that could be a bottle of water that tips the scale to trigger something else,

or maybe part of the machine launches something into the bathtub or pool.

Next up is a slow-mo video, but this time it has to include

one of the most important tools in an engineer's tool belt, googly eyes.

Now, for the record, they don't have to be official googly eyes

with, like, a lens.

You can just cut out two white circles with smaller black ones.

That'll get the job done.

And just so you get a sense, here's some previous epic slow-mo videos

that were submitted in past summer camps.

They're just, of course, missing the googly eyes.

And for the final option is a reverse video.

But this year, it's got to include food.

So the challenge is to create something that looks cool in reverse

and incorporates food in some way.

Now, you can do one of these challenges, or you can do all of them.

Just make sure after you film it,

you submit them any time before August 8th

And I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Okay. Well, welcome to our first planet.

Now, of course, we're not actually on a planet

because the actual planet is right there.

We are on an asteroid that's orbiting that planet.

Most of the time this summer,

we will be on a moon that's orbiting the planet,

but this planet has no moon.

And although it actually looks like our moon,

it's definitely a planet.

Can you guess which one it is?

That adorable little planet is Mercury.

It's the one that's closest to the sun,

and it's the smallest of all the planets.

It's sort of the toddler of the solar system

because it's also the fastest.

In fact, if you lived on Mercury,

your birthday, instead of coming every 365 days,

comes every 88 days.

That's like a birthday less than every three months.

That means four times the presents, four times the cake.

Now, as you know, Mercury is the planet that orbits closest to the sun,

so it's super hot.

It's like 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's twice as hot as your oven gets.

But did you know there's actually ice on Mercury?

Sounds bonkers, right?

There's parts of Mercury that are negative 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

They just happen to be in a crater that just never sees direct sunlight.

And so if you have no atmosphere to kind of regulate that temperature,

things are either super, super hot or super cold.

And if that blows your mind,

stick around because all summer long, we're gonna be visiting different planets,

and you might just learn a bunch of stuff you never heard of even in school.

And that's just part of the package here at Space Camp CrunchLabs.

It's just what you get.

All right, well, let's find out

who our first ever Space Camp CrunchLabs guest is

with a trusty finger snap.

Now, to be fair, I've never tried this in outer space,

so here we go.

What--

- Pierson! Wha-- - This isn't my shower.

I am so sorry.

Am I in space in a bathrobe?

I don't know if it's a space calibration thing. I got you.

- Okay. -

This is so much better.

- Apologies for the timing. How are you? - That's okay.

I'm good. Now that I'm in space, I'm good.

- Have you been to space before? - This is my first time.

It's much warmer here than I thought it would be.

This is the benefit of orbiting Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

- Heat is not a problem. - Mm-mm.

Speaking of heat, let's head over to the picnic table,

see what kind of experiments we'll be dealing with today.

All right.

Did we just do the same thing in space? That was a bit creepy.

- - It's a… It's a Mercury thing, I guess.

So, Pierson, even in space, we have camp guests.

- Campers? - Oh!

Hey! It's my nephews!

How many times have I told you not to stow away on my rocket?

Where are we?

Welcome to space.

- I can breathe? - Yeah, you can breathe.

This is Davis.

This is Beckham.

You boys have been here the past two summers.

- Oh my God! -

Now, who's won those? I can't remember. My memory…

- - We have a winner!

Uncles rule!

We'll give you last year, but the year before was a little iffy.

Who's your favorite uncle?

- Say it! -

Say my name!

It's gotten too easy, so this year I brought Pierson.

It's going to be 2v2.

- You guys know what this is? - Chess. I dabble.

I saw a video of the astronauts on the International Space Station playing chess.

The question, obviously, is how do you stick to the board?

You guys have any guesses? How might they do it?

- Magnets. - Magnets.

Magnets was my first thought, too.

The problem with magnets is there's a lot of specialized equipment.

If it gets near expensive equipment, it could ruin it.

Glue.

- Okay, glue. But… -

- Uh, what else? - Velcro.

- Oh. Oh. - Oh, you mean this kind of Velcro?

- Oh my God! - Wow, Davis.

The beauty of Velcro is you can play it in zero gravity.

- Ooh! - Just like that.

Now, of course, Velcro was invented by Mother Nature a real long time ago.

Have you ever had, like, your dog goes running,

- and it comes back with burr in its furs? - Yeah.

Or if you go hiking, and there's stuff stuck on your socks.

- Foxtails. - Mm-hmm.

That's exactly what's going on with Velcro.

We just copied it and made it in the factory.

But it's very strong.

In fact, it's so strong.

- - Oh!

- - Bring it down!

We're gonna do a strength test here.

So we've got a little fish scale here. We've got two pieces of Velcro.

We're gonna stick them together.

So in order to test how much weight it can support,

we're gonna add these balls in. Wanna do the honors?

- How many do you think it can hold? - All of them.

- All of them? - I don't think Velcro's that strong.

You've been talking it up, though.

But this is a lot of golf balls.

There's a second bucket of balls underneath the table.

Okay, well, now you're cheating!

Now you're cheating!

Oh, it's weighing down.

- I don't even think it moved at all. - I didn't even hear anything.

- Okay. - Light work.

That's seven pounds.

Okay, do, like, a little.

That's 12 pounds.

- It's still holding! -

Um, we do have rocks.

- Screwdriver. -

A bucket.

Putting in the chess pieces here.

Platinum Ticket.

Eighteen pounds. Okay, this is going to have to do it.

- Oh my God! - Still?

Holy cow.