Volume Estimation of Fruit from Digital Profile Images

This dissertation investigates the feasibility of using the same digital profile images of fruit that are used in commercial packing houses for colour sorting and blemish detection purposes to estimate the volumes of the corresponding individual pieces of fruit. Data sets of actual fruit volumes and digital images of the fruit that simulate both single and multiple camera set-ups are obtained. Shape features are extracted from the digital profile images using various digital image processing techniques. These shape features are used in conjunction with the actual volumes of the fruit as targets, to train and test both linear and artificial neural network methods of volume estimation. The results, in terms of error and of the associated confidence of the volume estimation methods, are presented.