Doing the role of a scientist, Benjamin Maus and Prokop Bartonicek’s Jller kinetic Machine selects and forms pebbles found on a 6 1/2 x 13 foot platform into a grid organized by geologic age. Without assistance, Jller kinetic Machine analyzes the stones’ appearance to understand their accurate placement, then transports them to the correct location.
Each of the rocks for the project were extracted from a German river of the machine’s own name, pebbles that are either the effect of erosion in the Alps or have recently been transported by glaciers.
Mainly because the history of this sample location within the river is known, it is a relatively simple process to assign each stone its geological time. To do this, Jller kinetic Machine first analyzes an image of the stone it selects, extracting information like dominant color, color formula, lines, layers, patterns, materials, and surface texture.
The Jller kinetic Machine then places the stones in alignment of age and type by sucking them into an professional vacuum gripper and dropping them in the best location within the main grid.
The project is part of ongoing research in neuro-scientific professional automation and historical geology, and was presented last December as a part of the exhibition “Ignorance” at Former mate Post in Prague.