High-fidelity 3D scanning is essential for preserving cultural heritage artefacts, supporting documentation, analysis, and long-term conservation. However, conventional methods typically require specialized expertise and manual intervention to maintain optimal scanning conditions and coverage. We present an automated two-robot scanning system that eliminates the need for handheld or semi-automatic workflows by combining coordinated robotic manipulation with high-resolution 3D scanning. Our system parameterizes the scanning space into distinct regions, enabling coordinated motion planning between a scanner-equipped robot and a tray-handling robot. Optimized trajectory planning and waypoint distribution ensure comprehensive surface coverage, minimize occlusions, and balance reconstruction accuracy with system efficiency. Experimental results show that our approach achieves significantly lower Chamfer Distance and higher F-score compared to baseline methods, offering superior geometric accuracy, improved digitization efficiency, and reduced reliance on expert operators.
@article{arxiv.2510.04781,
title = {Hands-Free Heritage: Automated 3D Scanning for Cultural Heritage Digitization},
author = {Javed Ahmad and Federico Dassiè and Selene Frascella and Gabriele Marchello and Ferdinando Cannella and Arianna Traviglia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.04781},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
The author has decided to withdraw this version to verify and update authorization details for certain image materials obtained from a collaborating institution. The issue is administrative and does not affect the technical content of the work. A revised version will be submitted once the verification process is complete