When millennial relics encounter automated black technology, what new possibilities for protection will collide? Chengdu Miji Technology gave the answer – deep integration of robotic arm automation system and terahertz nondestructive testing technology, equipped with “precision navigator” for cultural relic protection, so that sleeping historical relics can safely “tell” the past under the power of science and technology!
In the field of cultural relics protection, “precision” and “non-destructive” have always been the core propositions. Taking the Kizil Grottoes as an example, this cultural treasure house carrying the essence of Guazi Buddhist art. Its 161 cave murals are covered with smoky layers for thousands of years. Traditional manual detection is not only inefficient, but may also touch the fragile mural body due to operational errors. Although a single terahertz detection can penetrate the covering layer, it is difficult to cope with accurate scanning of complex scenes such as grotto domes and curved surfaces. Chengdu Miji Technology has insight into industry pain points and innovated and developed robotic arm automated terahertz non-destructive testing solutions, perfectly solving the dual problems of “complex scene adaptation” and “high-precision detection”.
The core of this scheme is to make the robotic arm a “precise performer” of terahertz detection: through the preset mesh path planning algorithm, the robotic arm can carry the terahertz time-domain spectrometer probe, moving uniformly along the surface of the mural, realizing automatic surface scanning of millimeter-level intervals, and completely eliminating the subjective deviation of manual operation; for the dome staggered in the grotto and the uneven mural surface, the robotic arm can flexibly adjust the scanning angle and distance with multi-axis linkage and real-time position calibration function, ensuring that the probe always maintains a safe distance from the mural, avoiding touch damage, and ensure the signal stability of each sampling point.
More noteworthy is the innovative design of “multi-technology collaboration”: the robotic arm is equipped not only with terahertz equipment, but also with synchronous integration of X-ray fluorescence spectrometers (XRF) and structured light three-dimensional scanners. In the practice of Kizil Cave 161, the robot arm first obtains the three-dimensional morphology data of the mural through structured light scanning, which provides a spatial coordinate reference for terahertz and XRF detection; then links the terahertz equipment to penetrate the smoke layer and capture the time-domain signal of the pigment layer; finally, through XRF analysis of the pigment element composition-the three data are integrated by automated algorithms to form a complete detection chain of “structure + composition + image”.
Relying on this system, the team successfully achieved a technical breakthrough: for the smoked mural area of 50 × 70 square centimeters in 161 cave, the robot arm completed the whole process of multi-modal rough scanning and fine scanning, which was more than 3 times more efficient than traditional manual detection. Through terahertz signal denoising and peak-seeking algorithm processing, the reflection peaks of air/smoked black layer and smoked black layer/pigment layer are clearly identified. Combined with XRF element distribution data, details such as headlight and waistband of the Tianren image are accurately restored. Even the distribution characteristics of cinnabar (Hg), copper chloride (Cu) and other pigments are restored, and the restored image accuracy reaches 1mm plane resolution and 10μm depth resolution.
Chengdu Miji Technology’s robotic arm automated terahertz solution is not only suitable for grotto mural painting, but also can be flexibly adapted to various cultural relics detection scenes such as painted pottery, stone statues, and ancient book framing: the robotic arm can achieve micron-scale scanning in the face of subtle decoration on the surface of pottery; for the curved surface structure of large-scale images, the multi-axis linkage function can ensure that the detection is free of dead angles. The standardized path planning algorithm and data processing module make the scheme highly reusable in the industry, providing a replicable technical template for the protection of grotto sites such as Dunhuang and Maiji Mountain.
From “manual exploration” to “automated precision detection”, Chengdu Miji Technology redefines the efficiency and accuracy of non-destructive testing of cultural relics with the innovative fusion of robotic arms and terahertz. In the future, we will continue to optimize equipment miniaturization and algorithm intelligence, make automated black technology a “reliable partner” for cultural relics protection, and protect the millennium elegance of each cultural heritage!
Source: Chengdu Miji Technology Co., Ltd. official website View Original