AI-Based Robotic Potato Sorter Improves Product Grading and Slashes Costs
To ensure precise grading, boost revenues, and free up managers to repurpose limited labor, a robotic sorter is now available for the first time to automate final potato inspection. A delta robot and an AI-based visual inspection system are combined in the SiftAI Robotic Sorter.
AI models are used to design each system to determine the overall size and form of the potato as well as the presence of flaws like cracks, bruises, and the percentage of green, among other aesthetic characteristics.
Installed over a roller table, the SiftAI cameras collect images of all sides of the potato. For any potatoes that grade outside the AI model’s acceptance criteria, the system triggers the robotic arm to pick up and remove the potato from the product stream at rates between 80-100 picks per minute with two-robot system configurations. The SiftAI Robotic Sorter inspects potatoes with the same dexterity and speed as a human inspector but with much higher accuracy, which increases profitability and reduces customer chargebacks.
Currently, the industry goal is to have no more than 5% of defective potatoes reaching customers, which is the limit set by the US Department of Agriculture. What’s more, human inspectors typically discard 10 to 20% of acceptable potatoes, reducing profits. In beta testing, the new AI-enabled robotic sorter dramatically reduced the percentage of missed defects and misgraded potatoes.
Adding increased profitability to the labor savings, the financial impact of automation is significant. The investment pays for itself in fewer than two years.
“Because of potato oversupply and rising wages in North America, many potato processors are losing money on every box shipped. Managers are eager to identify technology that can lower their production costs. When they see a competitor managing final inspection without labor costs, they become very interested in the technology,” Curtis Koelling, vice-president of product development and innovation for Smart Vision Works, a KPM Analytics brand, mentioned.
Advanced AI Technology
The system’s high accuracy is possible because its technology is not like the basic AI commonly used by other vision inspection systems. Instead, the system uses AI built on 12 years of development by AI scientists and years of experience in the potato industry. Unlike systems that use optical scanners, the SiftAI system takes a full digital image and runs it through a neural network.
Availability
The SIftAI Robotic Sorter is available for order now. The product includes a vision-based inspection system, sophisticated AI software, and a proven potato inspection model comprised of 19 different defects.
