With increasing demand for efficient archive management, robots have been employed in paper-based archive management for large, unmanned archives. However, the reliability requirements of such systems are high due to their unmanned nature. To address this, this study proposes a paper archive access system with adaptive recognition for handling complex archive box access scenarios. The system comprises a vision component that employs the YOLOV5 algorithm to identify feature regions, sort and filter data, and to estimate the target center position, as well as a servo control component. This study proposes a servo-controlled robotic arm system with adaptive recognition for efficient paper-based archive management in unmanned archives. The vision part of the system employs the YOLOV5 algorithm to identify feature regions and to estimate the target center position, while the servo control part uses closed-loop control to adjust posture. The proposed feature region-based sorting and matching algorithm enhances accuracy and reduces the probability of shaking by 1.27% in restricted viewing scenarios. The system is a reliable and cost-effective solution for paper archive access in complex scenarios, and the integration of the proposed system with a lifting device enables the effective storage and retrieval of archive boxes of varying heights. However, further research is necessary to evaluate its scalability and generalizability. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive box access system for unmanned archival storage. The system exhibits a higher storage success rate than existing commercial archival management robotic systems. The integration of the proposed system with a lifting device provides a promising solution for efficient archive management in unmanned archival storage. Future research should focus on evaluating the system’s performance and scalability.