Editing Marble sculpture (section)

== Automation and robotic carving techniques ==
Some contemporary sculptors use advanced robots and automation software to help them create carved works in marble. A 2021 ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article describes how robots like ABB2, a 13-foot zinc-alloy robotic arm located in [[Carrara]], Italy, mill marble slabs to fit designs created by artists from the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bubola |first=Emma |date=11 July 2021 |title='We Don't Need Another Michelangelo': In Italy, It's Robots' Turn to Sculpt |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/11/world/europe/carrara-italy-robot-sculptures.html |access-date=21 April 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Artists often blend robotic carving with hand carving. The process begins with digital files artists create to guide their robotic carving systems. “The data drives computer-controlled, stone-carving machines that use diamond and carbide bits that slowly mill away a rough version of the sculpture,” described New York sculptor [[Barry X Ball]] in a 2020 interview. “Then, we take it from there.” Ball's sculpture ''Sleeping Hermaphrodite'' required 10,000 hours of hand-sculpting after the initial robot sculpting phase was completed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 January 2020 |title=Recreating Marble Masterpieces With The Help of Robot Millers And 3D Scanners |url=https://artandseek.org/2020/01/28/recreating-marble-masterpieces-with-the-help-of-robot-millers-and-3d-scanners/ |access-date=21 April 2022 |website=Art&Seek |language=en-US}}</ref>

While some artists and scholars criticize the use of robot technology in marble sculpture, others see it as a natural evolution of the classical tradition. In a 2021 article, art historian Marco Ciampolini stated that many of history's greatest artists, including [[Michelangelo]], delegated work to apprentices, and that the only difference between that practice and the use of digital automation is the fact that modern-day helpers are robots, rather than humans.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sculpting robots chisel art out of marble |url=https://www.freethink.com/technology/sculpting-robots |access-date=21 April 2022 |website=Freethink |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Image:RecliningHermaphrodite.jpg|thumb|right|The 1st-century BC sculpture 'The Reclining Hermaphroditus', in the [[Museo Nazionale Romano]], Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme in Rome]]