From prosthetic hands to ocean robots, tradition has inspired Italy’s latest innovations
Renaissance Italy. The golden age of creativity, when the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Galileo Galilei revolutionized the worlds of art and science. Contemporaries of their time, these creators were known for pushing the boundaries within their fields to achieve what was then unimaginable – a legacy that lives on with the successors who are continuing to place Italy at the forefront of innovation.
Innovation has been a hallmark of Italy for millennia. The speed and scale of these advancements may have changed since the earliest pioneers, but what has remained consistent is their principles for making life a better version of what it was before.
A precise science
In Italy, innovation and precision go hand in hand. From the brushstrokes that gave the Mona Lisa’s smile its sfumato (ambiguity) to the technology that reinvented the Ferrari racing car, attention to detail has become synonymous with Italian engineering.
‘Made in Italy’ is now a mark of both centuries-old craftsmanship and future-forward creativity, especially within the machinery sector – which hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Respected internationally for its quality design and production, machinery is Italy’s top export industry and accounts for almost one-fifth of its international trade – not just to the obvious advantage of Italy’s economy but its society too. Modern machinery has the potential to bring new efficiencies, solve global challenges, and improve lives.
Mechanical synergy
Robotics reinforces Italy’s reputation as a global leader in machinery, positioning it as the 6th world exporter of industrial robotics.
And it’s fair to say it has come a long way since Leonardo da Vinci’s “robotic” knight, which used a series of gears and pulleys to emulate human movement. Modern robotics uses state-of-the-art technologies – not to replace manpower, but to enhance it.
Hannes is a prosthetic hand developed by the Prosthetic Center of INAIL and the Italian Institute of Technology to restore over 90% of lost functionality in amputees. Powered by artificial intelligence, it allows users to accurately control their hand and wrist movements by thought alone, demonstrating the power of Italian innovation in rewriting the narrative around humans and machinery. Working together, they have the potential to have a life-changing impact.
Designed by nature
Innovation is often inspired by the world around us. The sky alone has inspired centuries of research, such as da Vinci’s own sketches of the first-ever flying machine. Contemporary engineers, scientists, and industrialists are now following in his footsteps to discover new ways of defying gravity.
The Italian e-solutions company, EuroLink Systems, has launched the Beluga drone – an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) optimized for critical mission applications. Exceeding speeds of 100kmph and carrying up to 1.5kg, it can be used to transport urgent medical supplies, assist search and rescue teams, and complete high-security surveillance.
But when it came to the aircraft’s design, the challenge was balancing high performance and aesthetics. EuroLink’s CEO, Pietro Lapiana, explains, “As Leonardo da Vinci did in the past, we found the best answers in nature, where perfection has been optimized over millennia.” Taking its streamlined shape from beluga whales and noise-reducing properties from owls, the Beluga drone is a true example of Italian ingenuity.
Responsible machinery
Just as nature has lent its form to machines through the ages, machinery now has the opportunity to give back – especially as Italy looks to do more for eco-innovation as part of a global commitment to sustainability.
For instance, to solve the ocean plastic problem, a crab-like robot has been developed to collect and remove any unwanted materials from the seabed. The Silver 2, designed by experts from the BioRobotics Laboratory of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, uses a series of sensors to navigate the rough and uneven terrain of its underwater environment without any damage to the life around it.
The Silver 2 is just one of the 5,000 Italian companies specializing in cutting-edge technologies for the machinery sector. They come from a long line of creators whose innovations are written in Italy’s history – and they now stand to rewrite a future where machines change the world for the better.