Which is it, BookBot, bookBot or bookbot?

I was browsing through my Twitter account and noticed a post that highlighted a robot like figure with the name “BookBot”. To my surprise i discovered that there are actually three different references that uses the same term, all with the underlying factor that it is associated with books just differentiated by a capital “B” or a common “b”.

1. Meet BookBot

BookBot was an initiative developed by Google – Area 120, a department considered to be the experimental division to create the company’s first personal delivery robot. This was first tested in February 2019, hitting the streets interacting with the public in Silicon Valley, Mountain View California. The purpose of the mobile device was to assist patrons in collecting and returning books from the library. At first, the trial period was to be for six months with a person following the robot, to ensure things run efficiently and that he doesn’t bump into anything. In fact, when the children saw it for the first time, they jumped in front to see if it would stop, and yes it did. However, at the end of just four months, June 2019 to be exact, two engineers left Google and started a new company called Cartken to revive this initiative. These engineers are Jake Stelman and Christian Bersch. It wasn’t that they didn’t receive good reviews, because the community was receptive in the little robot who became popular. People would stop and stare, taking photos while they experience their first interaction with a robot. It is not clear as to why they stopped, but it was around the same time Google merged its Google Express online shopping service which spawned their drone delivery company Project Wing. Despite this, Cartken has been very secretive in their plans for the future, but their website is showing clear evidence for the development of autonomous delivery vehicles through an aerial view of a residential estate and the obscured outline of a delivery bot when you scroll to the bottom of the page. I think it’ll be pretty amazing once BookBot is fully automated.

2. Meet bookBot

The most exciting new feature in the library is probably the bookBot, a robotic book-delivery system that will automatically retrieve books for students once they select them from a virtual catalog. The books will be stored in 18,000 underground bins, in high-density shelving units that can hold 2 million volumes in one-ninth the space of normal shelves. Instead of 70 per cent for shelving and the rest of the space available to people, the ratio will be flipped: about 40 per cent books to 60 per cent user space, including classrooms, meeting rooms, maker-spaces, and digital media labs. How can you put two million books into half the space? With Bookbot. The books are packed inside metal bins, which are stacked inside five bays, each a matrix 55 feet high, and 150 feet long. When a user wants a particular book, they search a database connected to a robotic crane. Pretty impressive right!

Can you see this at your Public Library?

Click on video to see how the bookBot works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRVxN60CwdY

3. Meet bookbot

Bookbot is a platform that helps improving literacy in kids. The value and importance of reading skills in kids and the development of their minds is supported by the creation of bookbot – a virtual reading assistant to help children improve their reading skills. Though it may not be apart of the public library, it may be considered to be a special library catered only for children and to be used virtually. The services they offer surely does fulfill the ultimate goal of any learning institute, i.e. raising the literacy levels in the community and invigorating the young adults into creative thinking learning to use their imagination. Children can now use their phones or tablets to download the app that will help the child read the books in Bookbot library. In the app, the kid has a virtual assistant that would assist him or her to read, it is really exciting and fun! This is especially helpful with children that are diagnosed to be Dyslexic and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well. This is how you can improve the children’s interest on reading.