To convert a physical book into a digital copy, you need to scan the pages. The BFS-Auto robot aims to make that time-consuming process easier without damaging the books.
It can achieve high-speed and high-definition book digitization at more than 250 pages per minute. It does this using high-speed fully automated page flipping, real-time 3D recognition of the flipped pages and high-accuracy restoration to a flat document image.
The BFS-Auto was developed in the Ishikawa Oku Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Gizmag reports that it holds each book open and flips through it without stopping, while high-definition cameras scan the pages and two kinds of light provide information about their 3D topography.