Detection and position method of apple tree image

Abstract

Apples should be quickly and correctly detected from their surroundings for the apple harvesting robot. The basic color feature was extracted from FuJi apple tree images and analyzed by the statistical analysis method. Accordingly, a new apple detection method was proposed to position the centroid of picking apples. The color difference was used to segment apples from their surroundings. Then the picking apples were chosen by area parameter. After that, the conglutinated apples were segmented by bidirectional scanning line algorithm. Finally, all of picking apples were positioned by their circumdiameter matching algorithm. The experimental result showed that the correct classification rate of apple fruit achieved 90%. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.