A novel vision system with unique algorithms to recognise, count & size apples on trees to greatly improve crop forecasting and management to maximise yield and optimise market price - Applecount -

即使在苹果丰收的季节，英国的苹果产量也无法自给自足，仅占国内消费的三分之一，不足部分由进口弥补。其中很大一部分是由于我们无法满足对class1水果的需求-超市制定的严格规格，占销售额的80%。我们的客户记录显示，类似的果园在相同品种上的产量差异可能超过60%，无论是每公顷的总吨位产量，还是不合格水果的百分比，不合格水果被浪费或低价值加工，损失高达80%的价值。这种变化很大程度上取决于管理实践和作物预测。市场价格取决于作物质量和种植者和批发商宣布的作物产量，这些估计往往不准确，与最终产量的差异通常为+/- 20%。这对市场价格有重大影响。配额是在季节早期与超市商定的，必须完成。高估产量意味着购买进口（在季末的高价）来弥补短缺，而低估产量则意味着将多余的作物出售给低价商店，甚至用作猪饲料，从而损失利润。管理实践的一个关键部分是知道何时以及如何“修剪”作物以促进选择性生长，而这在很大程度上依赖于准确了解生长季节不同时期每棵树上有多少苹果。我们的客户代表了英国三分之一的种植者，相信通过标准化果园管理的最佳实践，以及帮助培育新品种的战略方法，我们可以使英国果园收回至少10万吨的进口量损失，价值5000万英镑。该项目旨在为苹果种植者创造并证明一种新颖的基于视觉的作物测量技术的有效性，该技术能够在树上测量苹果。

The UK is not self sufficient in apples, even during the high season, providing only one thirdof our own consumption, with the shortfall made up by imports. A large proportion of this isdue to our inability to meet demand for class1 fruit – the stringent specification set bysupermarkets, representing 80% of sales. Our client records show that similar orchards canhave outputs that vary by over 60% on the same cultivars, both on the overall tonnage yieldper hectare, and on the percentage of substandard fruit, with reject fruit going to waste or lowvalue processing and losing up to 80% of its value. A significant proportion of this variation isdown to management practice and crop forecasting.The market price is dependent on crop quality and the crop yield declared by the growers andwholesalers, and these estimates tend to be inaccurate with a variation of typically +/- 20%from final yield. This has a major impact on market price. Quotas are agreed with thesupermarkets early in the season, and must be fulfilled. Over-estimating yield meanspurchasing imports (at late in season high prices) to cover the shortfall, while underestimatingyield, means losing profits by selling excess crop to low value outlets or even forpigfeed. A key part of management practice is to know when and how to ‘thin’ crops topromote selective growth, and this is very dependent on knowing accurately how many applesthere are on each tree at various times in the growing season.Our client who represents one third of UK growers, believes that by standardising bestpracticeorchard management, and with a strategic approach to helping breed new cultivars,we could enable UK orchards to take back at least 100,000T of lost import volume, worth£50M.This project aims to create & prove the effectiveness of a novel vision based cropmeasurement technology for apple growers, capable of measuring apples while on the trees.