Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AUTOMATA (AUTOMated enriched digitisation of Archaeological liThics and cerAmics)
Reporting period: 2024-09-01 to 2025-11-30
Across Europe, millions of archaeological artefacts stored in museums, repositories and excavation archives remain only partially documented or inaccessible. While digital technologies for cultural heritage have advanced, large-scale archaeological digitisation is still constrained by fragmented workflows, high costs and a heavy reliance on manual labour. The main limitation is not the lack of individual technologies, but the absence of integrated and automated processes capable of acquiring, managing and analysing heterogeneous data at scale. As a result, a substantial part of Europe’s material heritage remains invisible to researchers, heritage professionals and the public.
AUTOMATA addresses this challenge through a highly innovative and technically demanding approach to archaeological digitisation that combines robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D digitisation and sensing technologies within a single operational system.
The project aims to enable faster, safer and more systematic digitisation of archaeological artefacts, producing high-quality 3D models enriched with both visible and non-visible information, such as material and compositional data. By integrating these technologies into a coherent and replicable workflow, AUTOMATA seeks to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve data quality.
The project is strongly rooted in the social sciences and humanities. Archaeological theory and practice guide the design of the system, ensuring that technological solutions respond to real research, conservation and heritage management needs. Concepts such as materiality, object biography and cultural value inform decisions about how artefacts are handled, documented and represented digitally. Ethical, legal and societal considerations—including transparency, human oversight, accessibility and long-term preservation—are embedded from the outset.
AUTOMATA contributes to European strategic priorities by supporting open science, FAIR data principles and the development of interoperable digital heritage infrastructures. The project is aligned with the objectives of the European Cultural Heritage Cloud (ECCCH) and engages with the wider ECHOES initiative to support the sharing of data, resources and advanced digital tools among heritage professionals and researchers.
By enabling enriched digital representations of archaeological artefacts and facilitating their integration into European platforms, the project creates the conditions for wider reuse of cultural heritage data, innovation in the cultural and creative sectors, and enhanced public engagement with the past.
AUTOMATA addresses this challenge through a highly innovative and technically demanding approach to archaeological digitisation that combines robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D digitisation and sensing technologies within a single operational system.
The project aims to enable faster, safer and more systematic digitisation of archaeological artefacts, producing high-quality 3D models enriched with both visible and non-visible information, such as material and compositional data. By integrating these technologies into a coherent and replicable workflow, AUTOMATA seeks to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve data quality.
The project is strongly rooted in the social sciences and humanities. Archaeological theory and practice guide the design of the system, ensuring that technological solutions respond to real research, conservation and heritage management needs. Concepts such as materiality, object biography and cultural value inform decisions about how artefacts are handled, documented and represented digitally. Ethical, legal and societal considerations—including transparency, human oversight, accessibility and long-term preservation—are embedded from the outset.
AUTOMATA contributes to European strategic priorities by supporting open science, FAIR data principles and the development of interoperable digital heritage infrastructures. The project is aligned with the objectives of the European Cultural Heritage Cloud (ECCCH) and engages with the wider ECHOES initiative to support the sharing of data, resources and advanced digital tools among heritage professionals and researchers.
By enabling enriched digital representations of archaeological artefacts and facilitating their integration into European platforms, the project creates the conditions for wider reuse of cultural heritage data, innovation in the cultural and creative sectors, and enhanced public engagement with the past.
In its initial stage, AUTOMATA has taken significant steps to establish the foundations for an integrated and automated digitisation workflow tailored to archaeological artefacts. Key activities have focused on analysing existing digitisation practices, identifying technical and institutional bottlenecks, and translating archaeological requirements into system specifications.
A core achievement has been the development of a modular robotic working cell capable of safely handling small, fragile and irregular artefacts. Soft robotic grippers and perception-driven manipulation strategies have been designed and validated to minimise physical stress on objects while ensuring reliable positioning for data acquisition. These solutions address one of the major barriers to automation in archaeology: the variability and fragility of material culture.
In parallel, the project has defined and tested workflows for producing accurate 3D models and enriching them with analytical data derived from non-invasive sensors. Initial datasets demonstrate how geometric, visual and material information can be coherently associated within a single digital representation. A shared metadata and ontology framework has been established to ensure traceability, interoperability and long-term reuse of the data.
AUTOMATA has also laid the groundwork for trustworthy, human-centred AI. Ethical guidelines and methodological principles have been developed to ensure transparency, explainability and meaningful human oversight in automated processes. Early AI components support perception, quality control and data preparation, paving the way for later large-scale analysis and classification.
Alongside technical work, the project has actively engaged researchers, heritage professionals, students and wider audiences through communication and dissemination activities. Workshops, presentations and online exchanges have been used to explain the project’s approach, gather feedback and build awareness of how robotics and AI can responsibly support archaeological research and heritage stewardship.
A core achievement has been the development of a modular robotic working cell capable of safely handling small, fragile and irregular artefacts. Soft robotic grippers and perception-driven manipulation strategies have been designed and validated to minimise physical stress on objects while ensuring reliable positioning for data acquisition. These solutions address one of the major barriers to automation in archaeology: the variability and fragility of material culture.
In parallel, the project has defined and tested workflows for producing accurate 3D models and enriching them with analytical data derived from non-invasive sensors. Initial datasets demonstrate how geometric, visual and material information can be coherently associated within a single digital representation. A shared metadata and ontology framework has been established to ensure traceability, interoperability and long-term reuse of the data.
AUTOMATA has also laid the groundwork for trustworthy, human-centred AI. Ethical guidelines and methodological principles have been developed to ensure transparency, explainability and meaningful human oversight in automated processes. Early AI components support perception, quality control and data preparation, paving the way for later large-scale analysis and classification.
Alongside technical work, the project has actively engaged researchers, heritage professionals, students and wider audiences through communication and dissemination activities. Workshops, presentations and online exchanges have been used to explain the project’s approach, gather feedback and build awareness of how robotics and AI can responsibly support archaeological research and heritage stewardship.
Within the first reporting period, AUTOMATA already goes beyond the state of the art by demonstrating the feasibility of an integrated, archaeology-driven digitisation framework. Unlike existing solutions that address isolated aspects of documentation, AUTOMATA conceives object handling, data acquisition and data structuring as parts of a single, coherent process.
The validated robotic manipulation results show that automation can be adapted to the variability and fragility of archaeological artefacts, rather than forcing archaeological practice to conform to industrial standards. In parallel, the definition of interoperable metadata and ontology-based data structures establishes a solid basis for large-scale reuse, comparison and aggregation of archaeological data.
From an AI perspective, AUTOMATA differentiates itself by embedding trustworthy and explainable approaches from the outset. Ethical analysis and human-in-the-loop principles are treated as foundational elements, ensuring that automation supports expert interpretation rather than replacing it.
Although large-scale data acquisition and automated analysis are planned for later phases, the results achieved so far establish a new methodological baseline for designing, evaluating and governing digital systems for archaeological heritage.
The validated robotic manipulation results show that automation can be adapted to the variability and fragility of archaeological artefacts, rather than forcing archaeological practice to conform to industrial standards. In parallel, the definition of interoperable metadata and ontology-based data structures establishes a solid basis for large-scale reuse, comparison and aggregation of archaeological data.
From an AI perspective, AUTOMATA differentiates itself by embedding trustworthy and explainable approaches from the outset. Ethical analysis and human-in-the-loop principles are treated as foundational elements, ensuring that automation supports expert interpretation rather than replacing it.
Although large-scale data acquisition and automated analysis are planned for later phases, the results achieved so far establish a new methodological baseline for designing, evaluating and governing digital systems for archaeological heritage.