Italy Wants To Spark ‘Michelangelo’-Like Renaissance With Robot Who Sculpts
Down in Carrara, Italy, where Michelangelo completed the David, a new addition to the region’s countless talented sculptors has sprung onto the scene in the form of a robot.
The ‘1L’ is the brainchild of the startup company Robotor as a solution to many issues, including how long it takes and the amount of waste generated by the artform.
1L takes to the famous Carrara marble with a drill-like tool covered in synthetic diamond powder. At its speed, it can finish a project in about four days, whereas humans would take hundreds of hours to accomplish their masterpiece. The droid is designed to work through day and night to get the job done in record time.
The bot stands at a towering 13 feet and is just an arm that goes at a marble slab and uncovers the statue.
The results are marvelous pieces of art that rival the likes of Michelangelo, Donatello, and Canova. CBS, who reported on the news, was invited down to see it create a statue of Venus.
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As it stands, Italy is known for its historic art scene, churning out some of the most iconic and influential works to date, from the majestic scenes of the Sistine Chapel to the somber Pietà. And as one stares up at such pieces, one can’t help but be in awe that it was all done by hand.
So, will 1L change the art landscape in Italy and remove the mastery behind sculpting?
Giacomo Massari, the founder of Robotor, thinks otherwise. He notes that the bot is about 99% perfect, but it still needs that human touch to finish up the sculpture and make it into something worthy of a podium in a museum.
He also argues that 1L is more of an assistant to the artist, allowing them to save on waste and make mistakes as they can always go back and rework their project.
The idea is expectedly met with some friction in the art community. According to CBS, a workshop of the Florence Cathedral, Lorenzo Calcinai, states that “we risk forgetting how to work with our hands” should robots take over and that he hopes certain trade know-how will continue to prevail.
On the flip side, artists such as Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan are working with Massari to have their ideas turned into sculptures at the robotic hands of 1L.
[via Futurism and CBS, cover image via Robotor]
