Hungarian civilian birth registers to be digitized by robots

2024. 05. 16. | News

The digitization of artifacts, handwriting recognition and automatization are all areas where modern technology can change the rules of the game. Artificial intelligence and ever-evolving 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 Directorate of Information Technology and Innovation of the Hungarian National Archives (MNL). Their recent innovations not only make the processing of historical documents more efficient, but also more accessible to researchers and the public.

Part of the Directorate’s work is in the field of handwriting recognition, which has already achieved impressive success. Another team is working on the automated linking of records and historical data. The third leg of the work is digitization, an area where several issues have arisen in previous years. This is where the involvement of Tripont’s experts first emerged.

The Robotic Scanners and Tripont Cultural Heritage Solutions team

Questions and answers

When did the cooperation start?

The first discussions between MNL and Tripont and the presentation of the company took place in 2019. That was the first time this project was discussed. Since then, there have been ongoing professional discussions between us to ensure the most optimal solution for the institution.

What challenges did you face?

Electronic civilian birth registration was only launched in 2014 in Hungary, but the MNL holds the volumes of duplicate civilian birth registers from 1895 to 1980. The condition of the books also varies, depending on how they were stored, whether they were laid out or standing upright, what kind of paper or binding paper was used for the books. There are also damaged and discarded volumes. Nor should we forget the angle at which the books are opened. From a conservation point of view, therefore, it was not at all a matter of indifference what solution was recommended for them. The biggest problem was the size of the volumes. Not all robot scanners can accommodate books larger than A2.

What was the demand?

The need was to digitize the civilian birth registers as professionally, quickly and automatically as possible. Due to the specified requirements, such as the size of the books or the weight of the pages, only one device that met the needs could be chosen. Only the high-end ROBO SCAN V2 robotic book scanner developed by our German partner SMA was suitable for this task.

What are the features of this book scanner?

The ROBO SCAN V2 book scanner is designed for digitization projects where most of the work can be left to robotics, but for problematic books the operator can scan manually. It also offers the possibility to convert the book cradle from a V-shape to 180 degrees in order to scan magazines, photographs, maps or any other flat artwork. The control panel can be operated from a touchscreen or optionally from behind a laptop or PC using the Batch Scan Wizard. The scanning range is A2+, which is the highest scanning range among robotic book scanners. The maximum resolution of the scanned material is 600dpi and the maximum colour depth is 48 bit. The devices are individually assigned a unique ip address to allow remote access control.

Could these robots replace digitizing colleagues?

The scanners need to be kept under constant supervision to ensure that everything is done correctly during the scanning process. And, to operate them, the digitizer must have a certain level of expertise. So the answer is no. A robotic scanner is a way to increase efficiency, not to replace people.

How was the installation done?

The equipment was delivered at the beginning of April and was installed and set up in its intended location in one day. We have connected the devices to the institution’s network and fine-tuned the robotics to make them as adaptable as possible to the specific size of the books. We then spent another full day training the MNL staff to use the scanners properly, so that they could take full advantage of these new tools.

What is the purpose of the digitization project?

The main aim is to digitize the copies of all Hungarian civilian birth registers. This is very important from a protection point of view and also from a research point of view. But the Archive has set the bar even higher, as they plan to create a digital family tree of Hungary based on the information extracted from the digitized civilian birth registers.