Last year, Milken students participated in the annual Shalhevet Freier Physics Tournament, an international competition held at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. Before the competition, teams from four continents built safes that may only be opened by applying the correct principles of physics. Winners were determined by a composite score of the number of safes each team was able to crack, the degree to which the team’s safe withstood cracking attempts, and the safe’s popularity among other teams.

Milken’s safe was named by its creators. “The Claw,” with its locking mechanism, was not nearly as primitive as its name implied. The team constructed a full-scale claw machine (resembling those found in arcades and other entertainment facilities) outfitted with neon lights, a real joystick, and a disabled claw. Cracking it open was a complex process involving two steps:
1. Burglars were required to use an external battery and loose coil to fashion a makeshift claw and pick up a magnet lying at the bottom of the safe.
2. With those materials, crackers could build a speaker, which revealed a lock combination when hooked up to an iPod.

Milken’s MAST students made it into the Top Ten and received an Honorable Mention Award for their safe.