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SPOT is the four-legged robot exploring the ruins of Pompeii, Source: Pompeii - Parco Archeologico

Pompeii archeologists enlist the help of a robot dog

Pompeii archeologists enlist the help of a robot dog

Part of the plan to turn the site into a Smart Archeological Park

Pompeii has the ambition to become a Smart Archeological Park. As part of this goal the researchers there reported the experimental use of the famous four-legged robot of Boston Dynamics called SPOT, which will have the ability to inspect a monitor a variety of sites and spaces, including small niches.

The robot has the ability to record different kinds of data, which can be used by the archeologists and site managers in the conservation and study of the famous Roman site.

Smart heritage management

Pompeii is well-known as possibly the best preserved site of an Ancient Roman town due to being enveloped by an eruption from the nearby Vesuvius volcano almost 2,000 years ago. Excavations and discoveries of sites and objects are still ongoing and happening on-site, making it a park that is a work in progress.

The objective of using innovative technological solutions is precisely to improve the monitoring of the existing and the knowledge of the progress of the works of the areas subject to recovery or restoration and therefore to manage the safety of the site, as well as of the workers.

"Technological advances in the world of robotics, artificial intelligence and so-called autonomous systems have produced solutions and innovations more easily associated with the industrial and manufacturing world, which until now had not found application within archaeological sites due to the heterogeneity environmental conditions, the extent of the site,” explained the Director of the archeological park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

He continued: “Thanks to the collaboration with high-tech companies and following these successful experiments, we want to test the use of these robots in the underground tunnels of the clandestine excavators that we are detecting in the area around Pompeii”.

Mr Zuchtriegel also pointed out that the robot helps to increase the safety for the reasearchers on the site. The issue is that over the years many of the tunnels had been looted by robbers, and this has decreased their condition and stability.

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