Volta, from the pile to the future: the components of the Voltaic Pile replica, 3D printed by NUGAE

In 1800 Alessandro Volta stacked discs of copper and zinc separated by brine-soaked felt and obtained the first continuous electric current in history. From today, in the Sala Pasta of the Teatro Sociale in Como, a robot repeats that gesture: the installation Volta: dalla pila al futuro (“Volta: from the pile to the future”), curated by ComoNExT Innovation Hub, stages the construction of the pile disc by disc, up to the cap that closes the circuit and lights a bulb. The components the robot handles were 3D printed by us.

What you see

An industrial collaborative robot picks up one disc at a time, places it on the base, alternates copper, felt and zinc and, at the end of the cycle, fits the cap of the pile: the bulb lights up, the pile is taken apart and the cycle starts again. It is a space, the organisers write, “where the memory of science comes to life through the movement of a robot working with precision”, celebrating Volta’s insight of turning “the potential of materials into energy available to humanity”.

Next to the robot stands an AI avatar of Alessandro Volta, built with generative AI by the Como-based company DKR: you can ask it about the pile, the history of the invention and the companies that contributed to the installation, NUGAE included. Try asking it what 3D printing has to do with its pile.

The 3D-printed parts

To let the robot work, the pile had to be faithful in shape, light, able to withstand thousands of pick-and-place cycles, and recognisable at a glance. Starting from the curator’s 2D drawings we modelled in 3D and printed:

• 24 discs of 80 and 74 mm diameter: copper- and nickel-coloured for the electrodes, off-white for the separators, recalling the felt discs of the original pile;
• two bases and two caps of the pile with a wood-effect finish, plus the small cap holders;
• the grippers with which the robot picks up the discs, designed to fit its hand.

Small parts, for once, compared with the hardtops and sculptures we usually print, but the same idea we bring to boatbuilding and to art: from file to finished part in a few days, with no mould, with shapes and colours decided by the design rather than by production constraints.

Please touch: Lighea and the tentacles

Next to the pile we show a few samples printed with our six-axis robots: Lighea, the whale tail, and some tentacles. Unlike the pile and the robot, which are only to be watched, these can be touched and lifted: the best way to understand with your own hands what ultra-light large-format printing means. They are made of CoreLight3D®, our material with 70% recycled content, with thin walls and hollow, ribbed geometries that make them stiff and extremely light at the same time.

Before entering the theatre, Lighea took a walk around Como.

Why we are there

NUGAE is based in Lomazzo, at the ComoNExT innovation hub, a few kilometres from where Volta was born and taught. Taking part in an installation that shows the people of Como, and September’s visitors, how a discovery made two centuries ago keeps generating innovation was a natural choice. And there is an irony we like: nugae is Latin for “small things”, the name Catullus gave to his short, finely crafted poems. For once, with the discs of the pile, we really did print small things. Alongside us are the installation’s other partner companies: DKR, PoliCubo, Renovo and Volta Structural Energy.

Practical information

• Where: Sala Pasta, Teatro Sociale di Como, Piazza Verdi, Como (Italy)
• When: 5 to 27 September 2026, Saturdays and Sundays 10:00–18:00 (opening on 4 September)
• Admission free. Organised by Teatro Sociale di Como AsLiCo; curated by ComoNExT Innovation Hub.

If you are in Como, stop by and watch the robot at work. And if you have a component to make without moulds, of any size, tell us about it.