The Robot Sculptors of Italy

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-robot-sculptors-marble/

by helsinkiandrew • 1 year ago

65 17 1 year ago

bloomberg.com

helsinkiandrew• 1 year ago

https://archive.ph/20250709144747/https://www.bloomberg.com/...

xnx• 1 year ago

Also https://www.monumentallabs.co/ in the US

ludicrousdispla2• 1 year ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33940043

diamondage• 1 year ago

Didn't they get their robots from Italy?

satvikpendem2• 1 year ago

There 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.

ludicrousdispla2• 1 year ago

This opens up a lot more possibilities for artists than it takes away.

beeflet• 1 year ago

until they invent an automatic finishing machine...

ljlolel• 1 year ago

They have fewer sculptors than ever it says

Ray20• 1 year ago

Yeah, possibilities to try yourself in other areas. For example, in the aria of frying burgers in a fast food restaurant

leoc• 1 year ago

James 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.20...

gerikson• 1 year ago

Heh! I recognized the robots as being originally made by Kuka, because those were the ones used at my last job.

1024core• 1 year ago

The 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 ) who passed away in 2011, and not the OG Shirdi Sai Baba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_Baba_of_Shirdi

satvikpendem2• 1 year ago

I noticed that too and contacted Bloomberg to correct this mistake.

trebligdivad• 1 year ago

The company looks like: https://www.robotor.it/products/

Those look like fun toys - must have been fun getting that going.

epicureanideal• 1 year ago

How much does a robot-assisted sculpture cost versus an unassisted sculpture?

ks2048• 1 year ago

It 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.

The Robot Sculptors of Italy

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