Carrara, the Italian city known for some of the world's finest marble, has produced masterpieces by Renaissance masters, such as Michelangelo and Antonio Canova. Now, right in the heart of the city's quarry, a startup aims to create a new era of sculpture in which robots take on - or rather become - chisels.
Founded by Filippo Tincolini and Giacomo Massari, Robotor's mission is to revolutionize the industry by simplifying the sculpting process through the use of robotics and artificial intelligence. The goal is to make sculpting faster, easier, and more durable while allowing artists to create works that would be unimaginable without them.
Leveraging research and the interplay between art, terrorism, tradition, and technology, the startup has developed a scissor robot, controlled by self-programmed software.
It all started in 2004 when Tincolini founded Torart, a company that combines sculpture, contemporary art, and design with new technology. Torart developed the first robot two years later, and in 2010, Giacomo Massari also joined the team.
After growing commissions, collaborations with world-renowned artists like Barry X Ball, and the creation of the Palmyra Arch clone - after the original was destroyed by ISIS in 2015 - the duo formed Robotor in 2019. The size and source of capital of the company have not been disclosed. Co-founder Giacomo Massari told TNW: “Our robots are born sculptors for sculptors. "They were born of people who knew perfectly about the traditional sculptural art of a territory, Carrara, home of sculpture."
Putting the robot sculptors to work
The robotic system consists of a mechanical arm that uses electric rotating shafts of different sizes and capacities and has an automatic tool change function.
The arm is mounted on a multifunctional modular base, containing the necessary electrical and hydraulic components. It is also accompanied by a turntable on the seventh axis where marble and futuristic sculptures are located. The turntable perfectly matches the robot's movements, taking full advantage of its versatility, and can support workloads up to 50 tons.
At the heart of the Robotor system is the company's proprietary software, called OR-OS, designed for programming by a professional operator or for fully automated self-programming.
The software takes 3D models and automatically generates optimized workflows and toolpaths without human intervention. It then simulates the internal process to identify any potential problems before sending instructions to the robotic puncher.
Depending on the chosen workflow, the OR-OS software prompts the robot to choose the type of product and tool it will use for the different stages of the manufacturing process:
from carving to polishing and cleaning.
The robot then analyzes the stone or material it will work with, and checks its shape and properties, to determine where and how it can carve, before moving on to production.
In addition to the robot's fully automatic operation, the user can also choose to program it and choose the working route it will follow. They can also control various machine functions in real time, including adjusting the speed and monitoring the status of the robot and its parts, easily receiving alerts in the field. unusual case.
From human hand to robot hand:
speed, precision, and innovation
Robot mechanical sculptors have many compelling advantages.
First of all, robots are designed to eliminate all fatigue stages of the manufacturing process, to work in harsh environments that can be dangerous to humans, and to avoid human error. “The use of the right tools combined with the optimization of work paths allows 24/7 continuous machine use, meeting the need for precise control of work time and costs,” says Massari. job". According to the co-founder, this significantly reduces turnaround time and costs.
While it's difficult to quantify the cost savings, Massari notes that on average, a work of art can be created by a robot in a tenth of the time it takes with traditional techniques. – except for manual finishing.
Despite this rapid pace, Robotor's sculptors display an impressive level of precision.
To demonstrate this, Massari mentions a reproduction of La Muse Terpsichore, a famous sculpture completed by Canova in 1811, that appears in the exhibition “A tempo di danza” at the Archaeological Museum City of Vetulonia. The museum has chosen to display the replica without hand finishing to avoid confusion between the copy and the original.
Most notably, Massari believes that robotic scissors can push the boundaries of sculptural art, allowing artists to create works that would otherwise have been "impossible" before the assistance of robots.
“Our collaborators, such as Quayola and Barry X Ball, present to the public new sculptures designed to be created with the help of robotics and systems,” he said. exploit its characteristics”.
"Each work of art is primarily defined by the materials available to the artist and his ability to manipulate them."
The robot's diamond-tied tools extract materials without breaking or separating them and open up new possibilities for material uses, including agglomerated rock and soil. can be processed by traditional methods.
According to Massari, this is also related to durability, which is emphasized by simulating the software's 3D model and optimizing the workflow. In this way, the marble block can be excavated with precise knowledge of the size of the final work without waste. While suitable for any stone product, explains Massari, the robots are primarily aimed at three market groups:
Traditional sculpture studios aim to include robots in their production chain, artists want to manage all the creative stages themselves, and designers directly produce their own pieces. And thanks to their self-programmed software, anyone can use the Robotor machine.
In addition to facilitating the creation of never-before-seen works of art, Robotor derives its main satisfaction from preserving and spreading cultural heritage through the reproduction of wonderful works in the past.
One such example is the Arch of Palmyra, reproduced on 1:
Scale 3, from photographs taken during a documentary campaign of the archaeological site.
The replica was created in 5 weeks using 20 tons of Egyptian marble, using technology to "revive" the 2,000-year-old monument destroyed by IS. In 2016, it was shown at Trafalgar Square in London and City Hall Park in New York.
Another example is Amore e Psyche, one of Canova's most famous sculptures, completed in 1793 after 5 years of work and displayed at the Louvre Museum.
In 2020, the replica of Robotor, which was produced in just over ten days, was included in the Rome exhibition "Eterna Belleza" alongside 170 other works of art from museums all over the world.
The startup produced approximately 400 sculptures in total in 2022. Massari didn't say how much the machines cost or how much it would cost to order a sculpture.
Human vs robot: who is the real creator?
Fast, precise and efficient, Robotor's mechanical sculptors rival the work of Renaissance masters. This raises the question:
Is there enough room for human action?
Massari's answer is concise.
Robots will never replace artists. "It's not creative, it's just a performer," he insists.
For the co-founders, the robotic chisel essentially replaces the tedious and time-consuming work that artists typically outsource to specialized labs to bring their vision to life. "It's rare for artists to do all the stages themselves," explained Massari, noting that artists may intervene directly or give specific instructions during the final stages.
"That's what Michelangelo did, and it's what artists do today," he added.
In fact, he explains, the creative process hasn't changed at all. Sculptors used sketches in clay and plaster for centuries before moving to marble works. We have one more step for you today.
A 3D model created from a sketch. Essential for the software that controls the robot. Robotor truly aims to expand the creative possibilities of artists by replacing the traditionally tedious and time-consuming production process.
"The history of art is a history of continual innovation," says Massari. “Artists have always relied on technological knowledge and ingenuity to find the materials and tools they need to express their dreams, thoughts, visions, or beliefs. And innovation has always impacted the way art is made.
The startup's ultimate goal is to usher in a new era of sculpture, in which the expression of human artists is aided and extended through the use of robotics and AI. As the co-founders put it, "This era is no longer about broken rock, drag, and dust, but about digitization, point clouds, and design."
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