Ancient caption have got that the Roman imperium owed its foundationto a Hugo Wolf . Now , more than 2,700 days afterward , some of the last and best - preserved remains of the civilisation still have a eye tooth protector – but with an unmistakably twenty-first century twist .
enroll Spot , the four - legged robot “ Canis familiaris ” from Boston Dynamics . He ’s just been give a new job : protecting the ruins of Pompeii .
in the beginning developed in 2015 , Spotwas designedfor lookup and rescue missionary work in position too dangerous or unreachable by humans . He ’s also highly steady on his foot , even on scratchy or slippery ground – a combination of talents that authorities in thrill of Pompeii believe make the click perfectly suited to this new occupational group .
“ Today , thanks to collaboration with high - technical school company and in the wake of … successful experiments , we wish to test the manipulation of these golem in the underground tunnel that were made by illegal excavator and which we are uncover in the domain around Pompeii , ” Gabriel Zuchtriegel , Director General of Pompeii Archaeological Park , saidin a press release .
“ Often the guard conditions within the tunnels dug by grave robbers are passing precarious , as a outcome of which the use of a robot could signify a discovery that would tolerate us to go forward with greater speed and in total base hit . ”
touch is n’t the only high - technical school tool making a launching at the ancient archeological site : parking lot researchers have already been experiment with the Leica BLK2FLY – a fly laser scanner subject of autonomously conducting 3D scan , thepress release , date Monday , revealed . While Spot bluster his own autonomous laser - establish image scanner and a coloration camera with a 360 - level field of vision , he can also be link up to the BLK2FLY to supervise the site as a team .
Together , Spot and BLK2FLY represent some of the very first examples of self-governing golem being used in archeological sites . There are good reasons for that : while “ technological advances in the domain of robotics … have produced solution and innovations typically associated with the industrial and manufacturing world , ” Zuchtriegel explained , “ until now [ they ] had not found an coating within archaeological sites due to the heterogeneousness of environmental experimental condition , and the size of the site . ”
And with his Modern base sweep 66 - hectares ( 163 - Acre ) of ancient and parlous ruins , Spot for sure has his work cut out for him . But his recruitment could n’t be well-timed – while Pompeii survived intact for nearly two millennium after the eructation of Mount Vesuvius , in late geezerhood the internet site has start out falling victim to an even deadlier nemesis than volcanoes : human beings .
Thanks to tourism pressures , climate change , and secure old - fashioned tombaroli – the local name for tomb freebooter – Pompeii was declare to be in astate of emergencyby the Italian government back in 2008 . And in 2010 , the dilapidate land of the sitehit the news againwhen the House of the Gladiators crock up , with critic say that preservation efforts had been badly managed . By 2013 , things had gotten so bad that Unescowas threateningto add Pompeii to a list of world heritage sites in danger unless Italian authority took action .
But with Spot , and his airborne pal BLK2FLY , Pompeii assurance hope to ascertain an radical - modern solution to preserve and protect this ancient town .
“ The object of using innovative technological solution is precisely to better both the quality of monitoring of the existing areas , and to further our noesis of the state of progression of the deeds in those areas undergoing recovery or restoration , and thereby to get by the safety of the web site , as well as that of workers , ” the parkland officialssaid .
“ [ The project ] aspires to an intelligent , sustainable and inclusive direction of the Park , which make usance of an integrated technical solution , rendering Pompeii a Smart Archaeological Park . ”
