Digital technology has helped the scientific researchers at Northwest University’s restoration of cultural artifacts such as the Terracotta Warriors. The researchers have the damaged relics scanned by a software so that it can detect the absent parts and find an unused relic fragment that matches the required dimensions. The researchers state that this automation benefits them in a very faster and safer way.

“Manual matching is inefficient. Let’s say if we need to match two from hundreds of pieces, it could take a whole day. But (now) we just need to click the start button after we set up the algorithm, then (the computer) would recognize and match automatically.” says Xiong Meijun, a postgraduate student of the university.

“This technology can be used for the restoration of Terracotta Warriors, eaves tiles, steles, rubbings, murals and other cultural relics. At present, our project is about the restoration of the Terracotta Warriors, virtually and physically. The virtual restoration can also guide the physical restoration.” says Zhang Yuhe, a teacher at the university.