Robert Michael Smith has been an active pioneer of digital sculpture, 3D computer visualization/animation, Web design, virtual sculptures for the Web, CNC and Rapid Prototype sculptures, as well as a significant art and technology educator as tenured Associate Professor at New York Institute of Technology Fine Arts Department. Smith serves as a Founding Board Director for Digital Stone Project and President of The Sculptors Guild. During 2009 – 2011 Smith was Director of Beijing Tomorrow Art Gallery at Beijing, China.
Smith’s art has been exhibited worldwide for over thirty years including the acclaimed Digital Stone Exhibition at Beijing Today Art Museum, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Chongqing Jinse Gallery, and Wenzhou ArtMap Gallery. Smith's sculpture "Paradise Bird Burlesque" is included in the permanent collection of China National Museum of Fine Art at Beijing and at Autodesk Design Museum, San Francisco, CA. Smith has been a guest lecturer at numerous universities, international conferences, and featured in several international articles and books including Bruce Wand’s “Art of the Digital Age”, published by Thames and Hudson.
In October 2012 Smith completed Stage One: Bio-Sculpture: Rapid Prototyping Human Biological Material for Sculpture”, Art & Science collaboration project with Dr. Anthony Atala at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine to produce the first rapid prototyped human tissue of an invented sculptural form designed in a CAD program.