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The Robot Sculptors of Italy
- helsinkiandrew 1y agohttps://archive.ph/20250709144747/https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-robot-sculptors-marble/ https://archive.ph/20250709144747/https://www.bloomberg.com/...
- xnx 1y agoAlso https://www.monumentallabs.co/ https://www.monumentallabs.co/ in the US
- ludicrousdispla 1y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33940043 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33940043
- diamondage 1y agoDidn't they get their robots from Italy?
- satvikpendem 1y agoThere are lots of videos online of this, pretty cool to see, and also lots of artists apparently complaining why they don't use humans, not understanding that every piece is hand finished, so they are hiring more artists than ever before. Also, the article is talking about Sai Baba but the images are of Sathya Sai Baba, they are two different people who lived a century apart.
- ludicrousdispla 1y agoThis opens up a lot more possibilities for artists than it takes away.
- beeflet 1y agountil they invent an automatic finishing machine...
- ljlolel 1y agoThey have fewer sculptors than ever it says
- chiph 1y agoI doubt that's because of the introduction of robots, but because of the high price of materials and labor limiting who can afford them. "60 Minutes" published a similar story in 2024 and the chunk of Carrara marble needed to produce a large statue cost about $300,000. To carve a statue entirely by hand from it would be more than a year's labor, so add another $100k+ to that. If a robot can do the boring part of removing the waste, that makes sculptures more accessible. And could result in an increase in the number of sculptors in the world who are doing the finishing parts that add beauty to the stone. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robots-future-of-sculpture-some-artists-embrace-change-others-push-back-60-minutes-transcript/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robots-future-of-sculpture-some... Where I have a problem with the approach is the use of 3D scanners and robots to mass-produce copies of existing masterpieces. If everyone has an exact copy of "David" then the value of the original is diminished. If 3D design tools are used to create original pieces of art, produced with the assistance of robots (and maybe some that were never technically possible before) that's interesting.
- Ray20 1y agoYeah, possibilities to try yourself in other areas. For example, in the aria of frying burgers in a fast food restaurant
- leoc 1y agoJames Watt of steam-engine fame was one of the first people to try to mechanically reproduce statues: https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/sj.2013.4 https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/sj.20...
- gerikson 1y agoHeh! I recognized the robots as being originally made by Kuka, because those were the ones used at my last job.
- aaron695 1y ago[dead]
- 1024core 1y agoThe writer seems to have gotten his "Sai Baba"s mixed up. The statue seems to be of the more modern one ( Sathya Sai Baba, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathya_Sai_Baba ) who passed away in 2011, and not the OG Shirdi Sai Baba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_Baba_of_Shirdi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_Baba_of_Shirdi
- satvikpendem 1y agoI noticed that too and contacted Bloomberg to correct this mistake.
- trebligdivad 1y agoThe company looks like: https://www.robotor.it/products/ https://www.robotor.it/products/ Those look like fun toys - must have been fun getting that going.
- epicureanideal 1y agoHow much does a robot-assisted sculpture cost versus an unassisted sculpture?
- ks2048 1y agoIt says: Robotic process (with manual finishing), Total time: 77 days, Cost: €64k. Manual process (entirely by hand): Total time: 132 days, Cost: €90k. Note: Time and cost figures are estimates. Cost estimates exclude the cost of the marble.