Volumes / Journal / 37.1 / Saraceni et al.

ARCHER: Artefact Classification and Handling with Enhanced Robotics

Quirino Saraceni, Gabriele Gattiglia, Nevio Dubbini

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2026, 37.1, 295-312; doi: 10.19282/ac.37.1.2026.15

Abstract

Ceramic, which is one of the most precious sources for the reconstruction of the past, constitutes the main discovery during archaeological excavations. The classification of ceramic sherds based on origin/dating/typology would require a long, and sometimes tedious, work by specialized archaeologists who could better use their time to carry out investigations on the dig site and for this reason these fragments often remain unclassified in the warehouses of universities and superintendencies for very long periods of time. AI and robotics can help automate this process: this project tries to address a possible solution by presenting the development of a robotic arm that carries out the pick-and-place of fragments classified using ArchAIDE, an AI-based ceramic classification application. The contribution of this article is an automated system which, after having recognized the fragments using the ArchAIDE AI, trained on 66 ceramic classes, collects them and places them in appropriate containers based on the assigned class.

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Subjects:

Simulation AI Classification of archaeological finds

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