Automated 3D Surface Reconstruction and Analysis of Apple Near-Infrared data for the Application of Apple Stem-End/Calyx Identification

Machine vision technologies have received more and more attention for automated apple sorting and grading applications. Currently most machine vision techniques used in apple automated processing are 2-D or 2.5-D based approaches, which usually have difficulties to identify apple stem-end/calyx from defects. On the other hand, as one of the persistent problems, apple stem-end/calyx identification must be solved not only for the accurate defect inspection, but for efficient firmness measurement purposes.