Robot-Assisted Project Promises Revival of Ancient Frescoes at Pompeii
GeokHub
Contributing Writer
POMPEII, Italy, Nov 28 GeokHub — An ambitious new initiative is underway at Pompeii: using robotics and artificial intelligence to reassemble centuries-old fresco fragments once considered irreparable, potentially restoring glimpses of a bygone world lost to time.
Under the banner of a multinational, EU-funded research effort dubbed RePAIR (Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Meet Cultural Heritage), scientists have developed a robotic system that combines image recognition, AI-powered puzzle-solving and delicate robotic arms. The system’s goal: to piece together the shattered remains of ancient Roman frescoes — some damaged in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, others fractured by events such as World War II bombings and later structural collapses.
During recent tests at Pompeii — specifically on fragments stored in the site’s depots — the robot demonstrated a startling ability to match shards by colour, pattern, and shape, then gently position them using soft robotic hands. Particularly difficult pieces — including ceiling frescoes and collapsed-house murals from sites such as the so-called “House of the Gladiators” — were part of the trial run. To avoid risking priceless originals, early work was done using artificial replicas.
Archaeologists involved say the task resembles “solving four or five jigsaw puzzles at the same time” — without a guide picture or a clear map. That complexity, long a barrier to restoration, is exactly where RePAIR’s AI shines: algorithms can detect subtle pattern or pigment matches invisible to human eyes, drastically speeding up what used to be exceptionally slow, manual patch-and-match work.
If the project scales up, it could represent a transformation for archaeologists worldwide: allowing thousands of fragments — once deemed too fragmented, too damaged or too miscellaneous — to be digitally analysed and physically reassembled. For a site like Pompeii, where eruptions, war and the ravages of time have destroyed or scattered so much cultural heritage, the robotic-AI approach may be the best chance yet to bring lost art back into view.
