Pepper robot is used in libraries
Pepper also holds his position as a robot librarian. This area is especially close to me as I really enjoy reading. I love older, special books. They can be adventure novels, classic books or one of Isaac Asimov’s sci-fis. For this reason, I would like to present the possibilities of using Pepper robot in a library.
Many say libraries are too old-school today. Even if this is not the case, we can say that they have been pushed into the background a bit alongside Google, Wikipedia and the ebook. I don’t completely agree with that, especially as a university student I used to visit the library frequently. I’m pretty sure, that there are some books that can’t be found on the internet.
But why hiring a Pepper robot librarian might be a good solution?
Pepper, the humanoid robot
Pepper is a 120 cm tall humanoid robot, able to understand and synthesize speech, also in Hungarian. It can do gestures, and also happy to present various show elements (dancing, saxophone, guitar solo, even makes us do tai chi!).
Libraries choose Pepper primarily for its informational function. This is because the robot is able to answer frequently asked questions. Thanks to its expandable database, he has excellent lexical knowledge.
As we can read below, there are also innovative libraries where Pepper’s educational features are also used.
Many people didn’t believe it at first, but it can even tell us a joke if we ask for it.
But where can we meet him live?
Is Pepper already employed in this position?
Indeed, it is deployed. It was first used in the United States by a county library in Virginia, which can also be read on the library’s website. After them, several county libraries employed Pepper. For example, a Pepper robot in the Caroll County Library in Maryland even gives programming lessons.
Also an American example: the Rappahannock Central Regional Library has created a community space called IdeaSpace where library visitors can try out technologies such as 3D printers, programmable devices, scanners and sewing machines. The library even organizes courses where the independent use of these technologies is taught. Since December 2020, Pepper Robot has been also a part of Idea Space.
In Europe, Pepper was first used by city libraries in Hanover, Helsinki and Lucerne.
We would still look for a Hungarian example of the use of such intelligent robots in libraries. In which one will we first encounter a humanoid robot?
