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"And this new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now."

Professor Peter J. Cobb, an archaeologist at the HKU Faculty of Arts, emphasised the benefits of the new technology, stating: "By wearing an MR device while I dig, I can virtually see a removed wall at its original location. This helps me decide where to dig next, and I can compare, in situ, multiple sections of ancient architecture that were removed at different times."

HKU Faculty of Arts PhD candidate Mr Hayk Azizbekyan, who leads this research and is from Armenia himself, explained: "MR and AR headsets have never been used before at an actual archaeological excavation project to support the digging work of a team, this is our game-changing innovation! I'm excited to experiment with future ways of studying old things and preserving cultural heritage. We call this project our 'vision for the future', since the technology enables new ways of 'viewing' the past'."

This interdisciplinary research collaboration bridges the gap between humanities and engineering, driven by the team's passion for advancing the field of archaeology through a unique Arts-Tech partnership with HKU engineers.

In this system, the automated vehicle can be controlled remotely by a specially trained remote driver using a teleoperation workstation.