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The Robot Sculptors of Italy (bloomberg.com)
satvikpendem 18 days 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.

ludicrousdispla 18 days ago [-]
This opens up a lot more possibilities for artists than it takes away.
Ray20 18 days ago [-]
Yeah, possibilities to try yourself in other areas. For example, in the aria of frying burgers in a fast food restaurant
ljlolel 18 days ago [-]
They have fewer sculptors than ever it says
chiph 17 days ago [-]
I 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...

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.

beeflet 18 days ago [-]
until they invent an automatic finishing machine...
leoc 18 days 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...
1024core 18 days 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
satvikpendem 18 days ago [-]
I noticed that too and contacted Bloomberg to correct this mistake.
xnx 18 days ago [-]
ludicrousdispla 18 days ago [-]
diamondage 18 days ago [-]
Didn't they get their robots from Italy?
gerikson 18 days ago [-]
Heh! I recognized the robots as being originally made by Kuka, because those were the ones used at my last job.
trebligdivad 18 days ago [-]
The company looks like: https://www.robotor.it/products/

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

epicureanideal 18 days ago [-]
How much does a robot-assisted sculpture cost versus an unassisted sculpture?
ks2048 18 days 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.
aaron695 18 days ago [-]
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