Robots being developed to retrieve library books

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In the future, you may be able to walk right up to your local library robot and tell it what book you want. It will shuffle off, locate the book, lift it off the shelf, and bring it back to you. That's the dream of robot engineers in Spain who are working on developing robots that retrieve books from shelves using a combination of image recognition, voice recognition and navigation technologies.

It's all part of the dream to make robots more practical. After all, robots are interesting demonstrations of technology, but if they can't be helpful to the rest of us, they'll never succeed commercially. So robotics engineers are hard at work teaching these machines how to do things that save time for humans: Roomba sweeps floors, hospital robots shuttle supplies for health care workers, and industrial robots assemble cars. So why not have a robot that grabs library books for you?

Of course, you wouldn't need a robot at all if all the library books were scanned and loaded into an ebook format. But that would anger book publishers, who don't even seem to like the idea of public libraries these days. (It's all that darned sharing!)
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and technology pioneer with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy efficient than incandescent lights. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and adult gymnastics. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org


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