OCR, or Object Character Recognition is not exactly in its infancy, but the reason you're having the problems you're having I'd wager is the very curved surfaces you're describing. If I am remembering an old article my wife read to me, and the article was about a 1,500 dollar phone, the program snapshots the surface, converts the text into .pdf .doc or any other format for the programming for the phone. I'd wager alot of money the reason it's giving you strange characters is because of the curves and folds of the non-flat objects.
As for better programs, all I can tell you is either give it more time or try contacting some non-profits about getting some in-school programmers to expand on the tech. That is if OCR still works in the same way as it did in that article read to me 3 years ago.