Scanners are used as what type of devices?

Scanners are classified as input devices because they are designed to capture physical documents or images and convert them into a digital format that can be processed and stored by a computer. When you scan an image or a document, the scanner reads the information, interpreting the light reflected from the paper, and transforms that data into a digital representation that the computer can understand.

This functionality makes scanners essential tools in various applications, such as digitizing paperwork, archiving, and editing images. Their primary role is to input information into a system rather than to produce or manage output, which aligns with the definition of input devices.

Other categories do not accurately describe the scanner's role. For example, output devices are those that produce or display information, such as printers and monitors, which is not the purpose of scanners. Similarly, while some devices can serve both functions of input and output, scanners are specifically limited to input. They also do not perform storage functions on their own; they require additional devices, like computers, to store the scanned data.