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Award-winning: Joint robot project of the Master's in Business Informatics and the Ludwigshafen City Library

Joint project of the Master's program "Business Informatics with a focus on Data Science & Consulting" at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) and Ludwigshafen City Library is one of the winners of the Team Award Information Professionals (TIP) in library science.

Last winter semester, six third-semester students on the Master's degree course in Information Systems with a focus on Data Science & Consulting at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) worked with Ludwigshafen City Library on a project to train the humanoid robot NAO for use in libraries. The aim of the project was to improve the efficiency and availability of library services through the use of robotics and AI technology. Two use cases were implemented as prototypes: General media advice and information on the availability and location of media in the library. This was technically realized by connecting the robot to the library software Bibliotheca and to ChatGPT from OpenAI as well as by using the communication platform Twilio.

The student team then entered the "NAO - a humanoid robot in use in Ludwigshafen City Library" competition for the "Team Award Information Professionals (TIP)", which is awarded annually by the trade journal b.i.t.online, Schweitzer Fachinformationen and the Konferenz der informations- und bibliothekswissenschaftlichen Ausbildungs- und Studiengänge (KIBA) and is now one of the lucky winners: at BiblioCon 2024 in Hamburg, the team, represented by Benedikt Lüth, Miriam Maunz and Christian Walter, was presented with a prize of 800 euros on June 5, 2024.

"The use of robotics and AI technology to implement intelligent assistance systems can change library work and represent an important building block in the digitized library in order to counteract the often tense staffing situations. In the coming winter semester, we therefore want to continue our collaboration with the Ludwigshafen City Library and further develop the system," says course director Prof. Dr. Frank Thomé.

The project with the Ludwigshafen City Library is just one example of the many exciting cooperation projects of the Master's degree course in Business Information Systems.

Further information on the degree programs and other projects can be found at:
www.hwg-lu.de/studium/master/master-wirtschaftsinformatik-mit-schwerpunkt-data-science-consulting

Professional contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Prof. Dr. Frank Thomé
Head of the Master's degree course in Information Systems with a focus on Data Science & Consulting
Tel. 0621/5203-213
frank.thome@hwg-lu.de

Three students with a prize check
(from left) students Christian Walter, Miriam Maunz and Benedikt Lüth with the symbolic prize cheque at BiblioCon 2024 in Hamburg (Image: Master's degree program WI/HWG LU)
NAO robot
NAO (Image: HWG LU)