• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.217-226
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• 1997

This study was to develop a machine vision system to detect and to discriminate 5 kinds of apple surface defectbruise, decay. fleck, worm hole and scar. To detect the defects from an image of apple, thresholding technique was applied to images on various frames (R, G, B, H, S and I) of the color machine vision and an image of near infrared (NIR). To discriminate the detected region of defect, various features of the 5 kind defect regions were extracted from the 4 kinds of images selected above. The features were size of area, roundness, axes length ratio, mean and valiance of pixel values, standard deviation of real part of amplitude spectrum in frequency domain obtained by Fourier transform of pixel data and mean and standard deviation of power spectrum obtained by the same transform of pixel data. Routines to discriminate the defects from the features of image were developed and tested to prove their validity. The test resulted that I-frame and NIR images were the most desirable. Accuracies of the two images to discriminate the defects were noted as 76% and 77%, respectively.

• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.106-110
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• 2000

An integrated on-line inspection system was constructed with seven cameras, half mirrors to split images. 720 nm and 970 nm band pass filters, illumination chamber having several tungsten-halogen lamps, one main computer, one color frame grabber, two 4-channel multiplexors, and flat plate conveyer, etc. A total of seven images, that is, one color image form the top of an apple and two B/W images from each side (top, right and left) could be captured and displayed on a computer monitor through the multiplexor. One of the two B/W images captured from each side is 720nm filtered image and the other is 970 nm. With this system an on-line grading software was developed to evaluate appearance quality. On-line test results with Fuji apples that were manually fed on the conveyer showed that grading accuracies of the color, defect and shape were 95.3%, 86% and 88.6%, respectively. Grading time was 0.35 second per apple on an average. Therefore, this on-line grading system could be used for inspection of the final products produced from an apple sorting system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11c
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• pp.551-559
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• 2000

An integrated on-line inspection system was constructed with seven cameras, half mirrors to split images, 720 nm and 970 nm band pass filters, illumination chamber having several tungsten-halogen lamps, one main computer, one color frame grabber, two 4-channel multiplexors, and flat plate conveyer, etc., so that a total of seven images, that is, one color image from the top side of an apple and two B/W images from each side (top, right and left) could be captured and displayed on a computer monitor through the multiplexor. One of the two B/W images captured from each side is 720nm filter image and the other is 970nm. With this system an on-line grading software was developed to evaluate appearance quality. On-line test results to the Fuji apples that were manually fed on the conveyer showed that grading accuracies of the color, defective and shape were 95.3%, 86% and 91%, respectively. Grading time was 0.35 sec per apple on an average. Therefore, this on-line grading system could be used for inspection of the final products produced from an apple sorting system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.852-862
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• 1996

This study was carried out to develop tools to detect defects of apple using machine vision. For the purpose, 6 kinds of frame for color images, R, G, B, h, S, and I frame, and a frame for near infra-red images (NIR frame) were tested first to select one which is useful to segment defect areas from apple images. After then, several methods to classify kind of defect for the segmented defect areas were developed and tested. Five kinds of apple defect -bruise , decay ,fleck worm hole and scar were investigated . The results are as follows: NIR frame was selected as the best one among the 7 kinds of image frame, and R, G and I frames showed favourable result to segment areas of apple defect. Various features of the segmented defect areas were measured to classify the defect areas. Eight kids of feature of the areas-size, roundness, axes length ratio, mean and variance of pixel values, variance of real part of spectrum, mean and variance of power spectrum resulted from spacial ourier transform were observed for the segmented defect areas in the selected 4 frames. then procedures to classify defects using the features were developed for the 4 frames and tested with 75-113 defects on apples. The test resulted that NIR and I frames showed high accuracies to classify the kind of defect as 77% and 76% , respectively.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.325-332
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• 2003

This study was to develop a system for grading apples by their color using statistical image processing. T-test was used to detect edges in apple images and the chain code method was used for contour coding. The histogram and mean gray level of each RGB channel in a ring-shaped region was used to compare apple colors to reference apple color.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.265-271
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• 2015

This study proposes an algorithm for recognizing apple trees in images and detecting apples to measure the number of apples on the trees. The proposed algorithm explores whether there are apple trees or not based on the number of image block-unit edges, and then it detects apple areas. In order to extract colors appropriate for apple areas, the CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ color space is used. In order to extract apple characteristics strong against illumination changes, modified census transform (MCT) is used. Then, using the AdaBoost learning algorithm, characteristics data on the apples are learned and generated. With the generated data, the detection of apple areas is made. The proposed algorithm has a higher detection rate than existing pixel-based image processing algorithms and minimizes false detection.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.373-382
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• 2023

The task of sorting and excluding blemished apples and others that lack commercial appeal is currently performed manually by human eye sorting, which not only causes musculoskeletal disorders in workers but also requires a significant amount of time and labor. In this study, an automated apple-sorting machine was developed to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in apple production workers and to streamline the process of sorting blemished and non-marketable apples from the better quality fruit. The apple-sorting machine is composed of an arm-rest, a main body, and a height-adjustable part, and uses object detection through a machine learning technology called 'You Only Look Once (YOLO)' to sort the apples. The machine was initially trained using apple image data, RoboFlow, and Google Colab, and the resulting images were analyzed using Jetson Nano. An algorithm was developed to link the Jetson Nano outputs and the conveyor belt to classify the analyzed apple images. This apple-sorting machine can immediately sort and exclude apples with surface defects, thereby reducing the time needed to sort the fruit and, accordingly, achieving cuts in labor costs. Furthermore, the apple-sorting machine can produce uniform quality sorting with a high level of accuracy compared with the subjective judgment of manual sorting by eye. This is expected to improve the productivity of apple growing operations and increase profitability.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.166-173
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• 2014

Purpose: In this study, we focused on the image processing method to determine the external quality of Fuji apples by identifying surface defects such as scabs and bruises. Method: A CCD camera was used to capture filter images with 24 different wavelengths ranging between 530 nm and 1050 nm. Image subtraction and division operations were performed to distinguish the defect area from the normal areas including calyx, stem, and glaring on the apple surface image. All threshold values of the image were examined to reveal the defect area of pretreated filter images. Results: The developed operation methods were [image (720 nm) - image (900 nm)]/image (700 nm) for bruise detection and [image (740 nm) - image (900 nm)]/image (590 nm) for scab detection, which revealed 81% and 90% recognition ratios, respectively. Conclusions: Our results showed several optimal wavelengths and image processing methods to detect Fuji apple surface defects such as bruises and scabs.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.127-130
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• 1999

This study was attempted to develop the algorithm for recognizing fruits acquired from apple tree images with digital camera in sunlight. As the result of L*a*b* color transformation for reducing the effect of sunlight, a* and b* color index were effective to extract apple pixels in tree images and linear discrimination functions with color index a* b* were developed. To recognize fruits from apple pixels, those were classified into 4 patterns according to clustering condition and morphologically filtered. Test results showed that apple fruits unoccluded were exactly recognized, whereas apple fruits occluded with leaves and trunk were miscounted 2 apples on average.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.212-220
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• 2024

When a typhoon or natural disaster occurs, a significant number of orchard fruits fall. This has a great impact on the income of farmers. In this paper, we introduce an AI-based method to enhance low-quality raw images. Specifically, we focus on apple images, which are being used as AI training data. In this paper, we utilize both a basic program and an artificial intelligence model to conduct a general image process that determines the number of apples in an apple tree image. Our objective is to evaluate high and low performance based on the close proximity of the result to the actual number. The artificial intelligence models utilized in this study include the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), VGG16, and RandomForest models, as well as a model utilizing traditional image processing techniques. The study found that 49 red apple fruits out of a total of 87 were identified in the apple tree image, resulting in a 62% hit rate after the general image process. The VGG16 model identified 61, corresponding to 88%, while the RandomForest model identified 32, corresponding to 83%. The CNN model identified 54, resulting in a 95% confirmation rate. Therefore, we aim to select an artificial intelligence model with outstanding performance and use a real-time object separation method employing artificial function and image processing techniques to identify orchard fruits. This application can notably enhance the income and convenience of orchard farmers.