Every year, millions of visitors flock to Italy to immerse themselves in its epic history, art, architecture, culture and traditions …

… and it’s quite likely that the average tourist goes home from Italy with the impression that they’ve just visited a huge open air museum, never considering that it is, in fact, a modern, innovative country. But all that science and creativity happened in the past … didn’t it?

How many tourists, I wonder, are aware that Italy is at the cutting edge of research into robotics? How many visitors to the world famous Torre di Pisa know that Pisa is an internationally recognized centre of excellence in the field, and has one of the highest concentrations of robotics experts in the world?

In fact, Pisa has been in the vanguard of robotics research and application since the early 80’s, and this year, from September 7th to 13th it will host the Festival Internazionale della Robotica.

Let’s find out what’s on offer during the Festival:

Pisa, città delle tecnologie – Pisa, City of Technology (taken from the official website)

Il Festival Internazionale della Robotica avrà il suo cuore agli Arsenali Repubblicani ma l’intera città di Pisa sarà coinvolta.
Le sedi, diverse per forma e dimensione, ospiteranno eventi di diversa natura. Sarà una settimana piena e potrete divertirvi e informarvi sull’argomento a 360° partecipando a laboratori, esposizioni, conferenze e concerti.

The International Festival of Robotics will be based in the Arsenali Repubblicani, but the whole city will be involved.
The venues, which are of different shapes and sizes, will host various types of event. It will be a busy week, and you can enjoy yourself whilst learning about all aspects of the subject by participating in workshops, exhibitions, conferences and concerts.

The Venues

Arsenali Repubblicani – Esposizione Interattiva di Robot, strumenti, navigatori e simulatori di area sanitaria (Interactive Robot Exhibition, instruments, navigators and simulations of surgical environments)

Fortilizio della Cittadella – Mostra di modelli lignei provenienti dal Museo Leonardiano di Vinci (Display of wooden models from the Leonardo di Vinci Museum)

Stazione Leopolda – Esposizione Interattiva di Robot industriali e di servizio (Interactive Exhibition of industrial and service Robots)

Museo della Grafica, Palazzo Lanfranchi – Mostra “Imagine Robots”. Opere grafiche e multimediali sul tema della robotica (Exhibition “Imagine Robots”. Graphic and multimedia works on the theme of robotics)

Cinema “Arsenale” – Cinema e Robot da “Metropolis” a “Io e Caterina” (Cinema and Robots from “Metropolis” to “Io e Caterina”)

An Example of the Practical Application of Robotics Made in Italy

The following video gives a fascinating insight into to the medical application of robotics.

Insomma – In Summary

La Bella Italia, with its exotic Roman ruins, Renaissance glories and jolly peasants living in timeless landscapes is an enticing dream. But perhaps we do the Italian people an injustice when we ‘trap’ them within this stereotypical fantasy. There’s far more to Italy than meets the eye, and the better you are able to understand the language the more likely you are to discover the real, living, ever evolving country that Italy actually is.