in the early 1970s, after a period as a professor at the , volta was a junior assistant to professor giuseppe evangelisti at the university of bologna, at the heart of what is known as the "packaging valley", where most of the italian companies that produce packaging machines are based. professor evangelisti was asked by some entrepreneurs to develop electronic optical devices to automate specific verification processes such as the centering of brands on packaging, the positioning of print, or the presence of a tablet in a blister pack.