library automation technology?

MIT's machine

MIT fit gears to the various handwheel inputs and drove them with roller chains connected to motors, one for each of the machine's three axes (X, Y and depth). The associated controller consisted of five refrigerator-sized cabinets that, together, were almost as large as the mill they were connected to. Three of the cabinets contained the motor controllers, one controller for each motor, the other two the digital reading system.[7]

Unlike Parsons' original punch card design, the MIT design used standard 7-track punch tape for input. Three of the tracks were used to control the different axes of the machine, while the other four encoded various control information.[8] The tape was read in a cabinet that also housed six relay-based hardware registers, two for each axis. With every read operation the previously read point was copied into the "starting point" register, and the newly read one into the "ending point".[8] The tape was read continually and the number in the register increased until a "stop" instruction, four holes in a line, was encountered.