Good News for Lazy People: Google Employees Invented an Automatic Book-returning Robot

By Super Neuro

Scenario description:The Mountain View Public Library in California, USA, was the first to launch an automatic book return robot service to provide borrowing convenience for nearby residents.

Keywords:Robots, autonomous transport, book returns

An autonomous robot will drive steadily to your doorstep, and then take the books you borrowed and return them to the library...

This scene is happening in Mountain View.The local library has launched a robot book return service, and people within a certain range of the library are enjoying the convenience brought by this technology.

The video introduces BookBot, which allows users to return books at home by making an appointment. It also shows the robot running on the street, users using it to return books, and pedestrians commenting on it.

This book-returning robot is called BookBot and comes from Google's internal incubator Area 120.

The project leader said that this is an attempt to explore the service provided by autonomous robots to humans: "We want to know to what extent it can be achieved and what problems we will encounter. At present, it seems that things are moving in a favorable direction."

BookBot brings you the best book return experience

The robot looks like a mobile square box with wheels at the bottom and an openable lid at the top. It can be regarded as a small intelligent transport vehicle specially designed for book borrowing.

Because BookBot has only been in use for a short time, there will be staff nearby to observe it while it is running to ensure that it can complete its tasks smoothly and observe people's reactions to it.

What’s more, this cool-sounding service is free and super easy to use.When people make reservations through the website, the robot will automatically arrive at the designated location, put the books into it through a few basic operations, and finally return the books to the library.

The person in charge said that its capacity is not very large yet, but it is enough for borrowing and returning books. The current version can carry about 10 items at a time, depending on the size of the items. It can also be used to return tapes, DVDs and other borrowed items.

However, this robot still has room for improvement. For example, the book borrowing service has not yet been opened. In addition, the final process of putting books into storage still requires the assistance of staff to take them out and scan the code to return them.

In addition, its service range and time are also fixed. It only operates in the designated area near the Mountain View Public Library from 11 am to 8 pm every Thursday. In addition, the service will be cancelled in case of sudden weather conditions.

When they encounter BookBot

When BookBot traveled through the streets, it still attracted a lot of attention. Children came over curiously, blocking the robot's path to see how it would handle the situation. Adults took out their phones to take photos or videos.

Although only the book return service is available, it is very popular. If you want to experience it, you need to make an appointment at least one week in advance.

Mary Campione, who has lived in Mountain View for nearly 30 years, said she first saw news about BookBot on Facebook, so she was not particularly surprised to see a real book-returning robot.

“We live in a technological epicenter where we see self-driving cars, robot services at airports, etc. so this robot is not particularly unexpected, but it is still interesting,” Campione said.

Another resident, Sriram Vangheeburam, was surprised to see him on the street and couldn't help but praise him.

“It’s really amazing, and it’s really going to be a benefit to us for a service like this,” Vangheeburam said. “It’s wonderful to see the advancements that technology is bringing.”

The book-returning robot is moving smoothly.

Library Director Tracy Gray said of the robot:She hopes the robot will give people with limited mobility, such as those who are sick or recovering, as well as the elderly and children, the opportunity to use library services.

In addition, another purpose is to urge people to return books through this service. Like many libraries, there are always people who fail to return books on time for various reasons. They hope that this method can provide a urging effect.

Although the returned books are currently being put to use, there is still a lot of potential for their use.

For example, some people have suggested that it can be used to recycle second-hand items. Some people may not have the time to go to the recycling point, and perhaps such a delivery robot will make the process particularly easy.

But for the current BookBot,There are still some areas that need to be improved, such as expanding the scope of use, or gradually introducing borrowing services.Of course, some people are worried that if there are too many robots like this, it will cause traffic congestion.

Regardless, residents of Mountain View are having a great time with BookBot.