"We believed from the very beginning in the possibility of combining tradition and innovation, making TorArt an artistic laboratory based on the most innovative digital techniques, linking respect for traditional craftsmanship (handmade) with a passion for innovation, thanks to the use of the most advanced technologies," are the words of the two founders, Filippo Tincolini and Giacomo Massari, who continue by saying, "Our profession consists of being able to bring artists' work to life and satisfy the requests of world-renowned contemporary masters such as Barry x Ball, Jeff Koons, Francesco Vezzoli, Vanessa Beecroft, Giuseppe Penone, Maurizio Cattelan, Zaha Hadid, Jimmie Durham, and to be able to carry out digital archaeology and artistic heritage recovery projects like the New Triumphal Arch of Palmyra, works by Canova, Michelangelo, Thorvaldsen. These projects have over time initiated a process of improving the performance of the robots used, which led to the birth of ROBOTOR."
"Today, ROBOTOR's mission is to deliver an automated technological solution to simplify the production process by delegating stone processing to the robot. A new era no longer made up of just chisels and dust, but of scans and point clouds where ROBOTOR's technology adds value to the process, saving the artist from the most exhausting, risky, and dangerous work," asserts Giacomo.
"Our strengths are to transform artists' ideas with extreme precision and accuracy, drastically reducing production times," says Giacomo, "Our work has gained visibility in two particular moments. One in 2016 when we replicated the arch of Palmyra, which was destroyed by jihadists and was rebuilt in just 5 weeks thanks to our technology. Through a three-dimensional scan, we were able to reconstruct the arch at a 1:3 scale, using 20 tons of processed marble. This work symbolized the power of technology serving humanity against the barbarism and injustices of war. The arch traveled the world and was displayed in Trafalgar Square, New York, London, Geneva, and was very important for us."
"The other moment is this year when The New York Times featured us, dedicating the front page of the print version and an online article that raised the question of the real authorship of artworks, whether robots sculpt better than artists like Michelangelo, or if contemporary artists really apply their imprint to these artworks. It was a very important moment of discussion that did not weaken but rather strengthened the concept of how important technology is in our profession," Giacomo continues.
"ROBOTOR was born from an extraordinary idea: delegating the task of managing the robot's processing phases to artificial intelligence!" adds Filippo while watching the robot equipped with the HSD ES748 spindle expertly working on a statue depicting a little girl. "What you see here is certainly the most performant system we have created, Both One, which combines strength and precision. It is designed to support heavy loads, with the table capable of supporting up to 35 tons and the ability to work on sculptures up to 3.5 meters in height."
"The system consists of a mechanical arm that uses a range of HSD spindles of various sizes and capacities, with automatic tool change, suitable for CNC milling of various materials. The arm optimally utilizes the movement areas, occupying the least space possible, and is equipped with special devices designed to work in extreme conditions. The arm is mounted on a multifunctional base inspired by lunar modules, where spaces and various electrical and hydraulic components are organized and optimized securely. The beating heart of our systems remains the software, completely designed for sculpture and very complex projects that even an experienced programmer would struggle to structure. It's a kind of artificial intelligence that resides in the Cloud, so not locally, but on the network, and completely manages all the instructions that the system needs to create the sculpture. We provide it with the block, the model, and the tools, and this application generates safe paths, simulates them, and then sends them to the controller to be executed by the robot in complete autonomy without the need for experience in configuring anthropomorphic robots."
"In this project," says Filippo, "we have two strategic partners, Kuka and HSD, because we consider them leaders in their respective fields, with Kuka in anthropomorphic robots and HSD in spindles. Marrying these two families allows us to be confident in terms of product, support, assistance, and also in the development of new robots that we plan to bring to the market."
"Our goal," Giacomo reminds, "is to go beyond! To go beyond so as not to limit the artist and to make feasible, thanks to technology, what seems impossible to achieve. But also to go beyond to make our solutions accessible to everyone." Giacomo concludes, "The sculptor robot is a reality, the artist robot will never exist!"
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