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OSU uses sauerkraut to power artistic robots
From Terry Morris, Staff Writer
Reading about something now distilled at Ohio State University may be as good as seeing and smelling it.
It’s “The Sauerkraut Project,” in which robots powered by that tangy concoction of shredded cabbage and salt will make something completely new out of people’s troubles.
In the beginning, volunteers provided empty jars that were filled with sauerkraut’s fixings. They also brought “things to let go of” — anxieties, fears, doubts and bad memories they wrote down onto slips of paper. Those were shredded, turned into pulp and transformed into sheets of new clean paper.
Next step will be for several small robots drawing their power from the composting sauerkraut to move across the paper and mark it with charcoal, “making something new from the fermented past.”
It’s the brainchild of post-MFA fellow Jesse Hemminger, and you can see it in the Hopkins Hall Gallery, 128 N. Oval Mall, at OSU from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through May 19.
Or you can just read this and think about it. What do you think?
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Comments
By Oscar Meyer
May 9, 2011 1:14 PM | Link to this
It’s a waste of good sauerkraut.
By that's funny
May 9, 2011 1:48 PM | Link to this
I power up with sauerkraut, too.
By Peter
May 9, 2011 4:02 PM | Link to this
Need to have a booth at the Sauerkraut Festival
By sox the wonder dog
May 10, 2011 8:15 AM | Link to this
What?! Autistic robots?! No, aRtistic robots. Oh. Never mind.