At industrial fairs, you’ve probably been able to see and hear about robots as the new generation of low-cost and efficient solutions. The different characteristics of industrial robots have been linked to their implementation in the automotive sector, as well as in repetitive, boring and difficult tasks. However, they have also proven to be precise enough to carry out jobs that require greater detail, such as painting, drawing or writing on a sheet of paper.
Currently, industrial robots, together with the latest technologies, have managed to introduce themselves into the artistic area by performing tasks such as painting, drawing and sculpting shapes in different materials. An example of this new robotic application can be found with the artist and filmmaker in the United Kingdom, Davide de Quayola, who focuses his work on digital and physical sculptures based on life-size “unfinished” sculptures, who made a replica of the Hellenistic classical work from the 16th century, Laocoön and His Sons. This marble sculpture represents three male figures staggering under the attack of marine snakes.
But how did Quayola manage to integrate art with cutting-edge technology?
Quayola, together with a team of specialists, programmed a customized software with which he configured and coded an industrial robot by means of a computer, with a drill as the end tool, which would then be the main instrument used to carry out the project of sculpting and carving abstract figures into various materials such as high-density EPS (expanded polystyrene foam) and marble.
Quayola researched classic artifacts where Laocoön’s work represented perfection. This was what the artist was trying to achieve. He sought to recreate the work of art by first using a digital model process, where the sculpture is designed using a series of coordinates, similar to an animation, where the robot would play the role of mediator, following an algorithm where it carves a very precise figure into a block of marble, achieving a fusion between classical art and industrial robotics.
Quayola told CNN “that his interest lies in recreating art by looking at it through ‘the eyes of the machine’”. Quoting Michelangelo, he said that “the sculpture is already in the stone, you just need to take away the rest.”
Industrial robotics and artificial intelligence are creating increasingly effective solutions by encouraging robots to be integrated into all kinds of application, which now include art, generating interest as to their artistic abilities.