The Pompeii archaeological park has begun testing a robotic system designed to restore ancient Roman frescoes. The technology was developed as part of the EU-funded RePAIR project, coordinated by Ca Foscari University in Venice.
The technology combines computer vision, artificial intelligence and robotic arms to assemble fresco pieces. As the director of the archaeological site, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, notes, the project arose from the practical need to restore paintings damaged during World War II.
The robot is equipped with two controllers with flexible grippers in two sizes and sensors for image recognition. This allows him to work carefully with the delicate surfaces of ancient fragments. The system is capable of analyzing color schemes and patterns that are not always visible to the human eye.
Experts are now testing this technology on two types of objects: large ceiling paintings, as well as frescoes from the so-called “House of the Gladiators”. At the initial stage, exact copies of the pieces are used to eliminate the risk of damaging the original.
Professor Marcello Pelillo, who oversaw the project, compared the task to assembling several puzzles at once, where all the elements are mixed and the original image cannot be identified. Artificial intelligence algorithms must accurately solve these complex problems, including the missing pieces.
