Automatic recognition vision system guided for apple harvesting robot

In apple harvesting robot, the first key part is the machine vision system, which is used to recognize and locate the apples. In this paper, the procedure on how to develop an automatic recognition vision system guided for apple harvesting robot, is proposed. We first use a color charge coupled device camera to capture apple images, and then utilize an industrial computer to process images for recognising fruit. Meanwhile, the vector median filter is applied to remove the color images noise of apple, and images segmentation method based on region growing and color feature is investigated. After that the color feature and shape feature of image are extract, a new classification algorithm based on support vector machine for apple recognition is introduced to improve recognition accuracy and efficiency. Finally, these procedures proposed have been tested on apple harvesting robot under natural conditions in September 2009, and showed a recognition success rate of approximately 89% and average recognition time of 352 ms. Crown Copyright (c) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.