Augmented Reality Combined with Machine Learning to Increase Productivity in Fruit Packing

This paper studies the benefits of using Augmented Reality and Machine Learning in the agricultural industry for the purpose of fruit classification. During fruit classification colour plays a vital role in determining fruit quality and attractiveness. It is for this reason that technology in agriculture is being adopted that can visually grade produce. Currently, the study of Augmented Reality and Machine learning technologies in the Agricultural sector is limited, specifically cornering productivity improvement resulting from the implementation of these technologies. Therefore, technology which offers collaboration between employees and visual technology, in the form of Augmented Reality using the HoloLens 1, was studied. Augmented Reality requires strong data analytical support because the effectiveness of Augmented Reality is directly proportional to the quality of the information utilised. To ensure accurate data analytics Machine Learning was used. To analyse the use of Augmented Reality and Machine Learning in agriculture these two technologies were used to classify avocados in terms of both fruit grade and size. Machine Learning was implemented using Microsoft Azure which was used to grade the fruit. This was done by providing 1053 photos of avocados to Microsoft Azure from which the Machine Learning algorithm could learn how the fruit was to be graded. To determine the size of the avocado the number of pixels and the distance of the avocado from the HoloLens was used. An Augmented Reality and Machine Learning prototype was implemented, and the time taken to pack an avocado box was taken. It was found that there was a packing speed increase of 29.87% and a decrease in the variation of this speed by 96.2% when the prototype was implemented. Doing a t-test it was quantified that the increase in packing speed was statistically significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of Augmented Reality and Machine Learning can be used to aid employees to improve tasks in the agricultural industry.