Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

A collection of 115 works for 17 thematic areas tells the story and evolution of entertainment robotics

Milan, September 30 2019 – The exhibition “Io, Robotto – Companion Automata” opens on Tuesday 1 October and will be visible in Fabbrica del Vapore until Sunday 19 January 2020. The exhibition, curated by the journalist Massimo Triulzi, a technology expert and robotics enthusiast, and co-produced by the Municipality of Milan, it is the first led by an Artificial Intelligence: Amazon's Alexa. 

“The Steam Factory, a place designed to promote youth creativity and innovation in the artistic and cultural fields, is once again an inspiration for thinking about the past and the future – comments the deputy mayor of the Municipality of Milan Anna Scavuzzo -. I am sure that it will be able to amaze visitors with the cultural contaminations that it offers in its various articulations, through a deliberately varied, at times provocative, schedule, increasingly open to the search for new meanings and the possibility of dialogue between different worlds".

“Long anticipated by our imagination, the robot is increasingly a reality – states the curator Massimo Triulzi –. And, losing part of that fantastic and romantic dimension that has characterized its history, it enters everyday life, fulfilling man's dream of creating his double through matter. The robot, which imitates human features and gestures, entertains and amuses, sings, dances and communicates, celebrates not only technology but also the centrality of man and the power of ideas. Evocative and inspiring for adults and children, the exhibition ranges across the infinite disciplines involved to offer an experience with many interpretations." 

Accompanying the visitor along the exhibition itinerary and answering questions about the exhibition is the female voice of Alexa, Amazon's voice service, programmed to know every content of the exhibition: all those who want information on the works on display can use the expression “Alexa, ask the guide” or “Alexa, explain this room” to hear a description of their environment. 

The exhibition is divided into 17 different thematic areas distributed over 1.500 square meters for a collection of 115 works. Each area is functional to mark the history of companion robotics in its most significant stages: from mechanical automatons to quantum chips, to tell the evolution of the robot in its aesthetic identity and its functions, between reality and collective imagination. The exhibition ranges from spring-loaded tin robots to the most famous cinema robots, those of Japanese anime, pet dinosaurs, musical robots, robot puppies and Furbys, animatrons and androids, up to the dawn of the future: automatons connected and Artificial Intelligences.

The exhibition also offers opportunities for knowledge in every field of robotics investigation, from technology to cinema, through literature, video games, medicine and comics: every Thursday evening there will be thematic conferences, workshops, showcases and educational sessions. Training activities are also planned to introduce the little ones to coding and robotics: an integral part of the exhibition itinerary is a dedicated space, the Games Room, where children, teenagers and students will have the opportunity to touch, program and play with some of the robots protagonists of the exhibition.

The 'Io, Robotto' exhibition is dedicated to the photographer Valentino Candiani, former artistic director who passed away prematurely, whose photographic skills and exceptional vision contributed to the construction of a strong emotional component of the exhibition, literally giving a soul to the robots .

Press office 

Imageware | Massimiliano Cimelli, Stefania Niro, Maria Chiara Catania: Iorobotto@imageware.it, phone number 02.700251

Website: www.iorobotto.com