MIT System Could Read Books Without Even Opening Them

CAMBRIDGE, MA — You might judge a book by its cover, but Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers could someday simply read right through it.

As described in the latest issue of Nature Communications, the MIT researchers have developed a prototype of a system to read books right through their covers, and performed early tests on a stack of papers.

The system was able to correctly identify the letters on the top nine sheets, according to that story.

So, what are the potential uses?

According to MIT Media Lab research scientist Barmak Heshmat, as quoted in an MIT news release, “The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed a lot of interest in this, because they want to, for example, look into some antique books that they don’t even want to touch."

Learn more in this video from MIT here:

Image via YouTube