Artefact digitisation, handwriting recognition and automation all touch on areas where modern technology can change the rules of the game. Artificial intelligence and continually advancing technology have shaken up the heritage field to an unimaginable degree in recent years. One such success story is the latest development project of the IT and Innovation Directorate of the National Archives of Hungary (MNL). The innovations they have introduced recently not only make the processing of historical records more efficient but also make them more accessible to researchers and anyone interested.
One part of the Directorate’s work takes place in the field of handwriting recognition, which has already achieved spectacular successes. Another team is working on the automated linking of records and historical data. The third leg of the work is digitisation, an area in which several questions arose in earlier years. This is the point at which the involvement of Tripont’s specialists first came up.
The robotic scanners and the Tripont Cultural Heritage Solutions team
Questions and answers
When did the cooperation begin?
The first discussions between the MNL and Tripont, and the company’s introduction, took place back in 2019. This task was first raised then, too. Since then we have been in continuous professional consultation in order to provide the institution with the most optimal solution.
What challenges had to be faced?
Electronic civil registration only started in Hungary in 2014, but the MNL holds the volumes of the register duplicates from 1895 to 1980. The condition of the books also varies, depending on how they were stored, lying flat or standing, and what paper and binding boards were used. Damaged and warped volumes are also present. The gentle opening angle of the books must not be forgotten either. For this reason, from a preservation point of view it was by no means a matter of indifference which solution we recommended to them. The biggest headache, however, came from the size of the volumes. Not every robotic scanner can image books larger than A2.
What was the requirement?
The requirement was for the registers to be digitised as professionally, quickly and automatically as possible. Because of the specified properties, such as the size of the books or the weight of the pages, in the end only one device could be considered that met the requirements. Only the top-quality ROBO SCAN V2 robotic book scanner, developed by our German partner company SMA, was suitable for this task.
What features does this book scanner have?
The ROBO SCAN V2 book scanner was designed for digitisation projects where most of the work can be entrusted to robotics, but for problematic books the operator can scan manually as well. It also offers the option of converting the book cradle from V-shaped to 180 degrees so that magazines, photographs, maps or any other flat objects can also be scanned. The user interface can be controlled and operated on a touchscreen or, optionally, from behind a laptop or PC with the help of the Batch Scan Wizard. Its scanning area is A2+, the largest scanning area among robotic book scanners. The maximum resolution of material scanned with the device is 600 dpi, and the maximum colour depth is 48 bit. The devices are each given an individual IP address so that they can also be controlled by remote access.
Can these robots replace digitisation colleagues?
The scanners must be kept under constant supervision to make sure everything proceeds correctly during capture. And the digitiser must have a certain level of expertise to operate them. So the answer is no. The robotic scanner is suited to increasing efficiency, not to replacing people.
How did the installation go?
We delivered the devices at the beginning of April, then installed them in one day and they were commissioned at their planned locations. We connected them to the institution’s network and fine-tuned the robotics so that they could be applied as well as possible to the special size of the books. After that we set aside another full day to train the MNL staff properly in the use of the scanners, so that they can make full use of these new devices.
What is the aim of the digitisation project?
The main aim is for all of Hungary’s state register duplicates to be digitised. This is very important from both a preservation and a researchability point of view. The archives, however, have set the bar higher still, since on the basis of the information extracted from the digitised registers they plan to create Hungary’s digital family tree.
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Digitisation of bound volumes →
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