The machine learns to read
The electronics company Solartron revealed last week the progress it has made with a machine that can read ordinary type. The Electronic Reading Automation device can recognise Arabic numerals at a rate of 120 characters per second, and the makers claim that a single machine can read a variety of typefaces even if these are distorted, smudged, defective and misplaced.
The reason behind Solartron’s research is the appetite of the digital computer. For business purposes a fast computer gobbles up figures faster than hundreds of clerks can feed it, because each number has to be transcribed into a form the computer…
