PMA Fresh Summit 2019 will see the launch of two new post-harvest innovations as Compac unveils is its UltraView inspection module and BBC Technologies launches Lucai, a new artificial intelligence (AI) software for grading blueberries.
Both companies are part of the Tomra Group and will join Tomra Food, which is showcasing the Tomra 5A potato sorting, in exhibiting at the event.
Compac’s UltraView is a new inspection module that integrates with the Compac Spectrim cabinet to provide detection of defects located in the critical stem bowl and tip areas of the fruit – defects that can be difficult to detect due to their shape and location.
The UltraView module contains a dedicated set of high-resolution multi-spectral (colour and infrared) cameras and LED lights which are located ideally close to the fruit, parallel to its direction of travel.
In this unique position, the UltraView cameras generate high-quality images for accurate inspection of the fruit’s stem bowl and tip regions.
BBC Technologies’ Lucai uses artificial intelligence techniques to classify and grade fruit to precise market demands. The classification is derived from a learning set generated by more than a 250,000 individually classified images over the last five years.
And as part of BBC Technologies’ ongoing Berry Science Programme, Lucai will continue to increase its knowledge base as more and more variety-specific and seasonal-specific images become available.
As fruit passes along a grading line, each piece of fruit is photographed by multiple cameras. Lucai then identifies and instructs how each individual berry is to be classified. Lucai can process up to 2,400 individual images of fruit each second.
BBC Technologies has initially made Lucai available as an add-on for its KATO260 optical blueberry grader.
