A customer who is involved in produce enhancement wanted to document a wide range of measurements.

The EFG400 system fit his needs, since it already collects data and measurements in order to generate a grading result.

Originally, management statistics (stored per grading batch) indicated the amount or weight of the classes the batch was divided into.

However, our customer wanted to be able to store and retrieve all pictures and measurements, in order to compare them with data stored about the produce at an earlier stage.

In essence, it was an extreme type of track-and-trace, although the similarities end with the use of a barcode scanner in order to match the batches.

Ellips made the necessary software modifications in the timeframe which was agreed upon, and implemented several innovations for this customer, in cooperation with the machine manufacturer.

The requirements demanded the produce to be inspected from all directions. However, the product is delicate and hard to rotate, so we had to revert to looking from beneath the conveyor belt and exclude the transportation cup which now came into view.

Another measurement required screening the produce. Both had never been done before but we were able to implement them using "ImageBlocks", the Rapid Application Development kit especially tailored for computer vision developed by Ellips, in combination with our new LED lighting and an armature developed in cooperation with the machine manufacturer.

In all, only two cycles of testing, feedback, and implementation were needed for a near-perfect result!

Last but not least, procedures had to be designed in order to avoid any mix-up between batches, to differentiate between batches of different varieties, and to be able to cope with situations where a barcode could not be read.

We would like to thank our customer for the oppertunity to innovate our EFG400 system to a new level, and we're looking forward to other challenges in the research area of fruit and vegetables.