JPH087165B2 - Strawberry inspection device - Google Patents

Description

Description: [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to a strawberry inspection device for automatically determining the quality of strawberry.

[Conventional technology]

Strawberry is a material for tatami mats, but good tatami mats cannot be woven unless they are green and elastic and stretch straight. Therefore, before weaving the tatami mat, the strawberries must be inspected and those that have turned yellow or have broken must be removed as defective products.

Conventionally, the work of inspecting strawberries to find defective products has been performed visually, and the work of selecting defective products from a large number of strawberries has been artificially performed by a human who visually checks. Specifically, hold one end of the bunch of strawberries in one hand to make it horizontal, and spread the other end to separate them. He carefully looked at each of the unfolded strawberries, and when he found strawberries that had turned yellow due to withering or sunburn, or that were drooping due to folds or tears, he would remove them with his other hand.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Since such inspections and selections are detailed works, there is a problem that the working time becomes long. In addition, the defect rate varies depending on the skill level and fatigue level of the inspecting operator, which causes a variation in the inspection result.

The present invention has been made in view of such an actual situation, and an object thereof is to provide a strawberry-plant inspection device capable of accurately and quickly inspecting strawberry-plants.

[Means for solving the problem]

The characteristic configuration of the strawberry inspection device according to the invention of claim 1 is based on image pickup means for picking up an image of strawberry, image processing means for extracting an area of strawberry based on image pickup information of the image pickup means, and information of the area. The image pickup means is configured to image the strawberries from different angles around the axis along the longitudinal direction of the strawberries.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a characteristic configuration of the strawberry inspection device according to the first aspect, wherein the imaging unit is a color camera and the determination unit is a red component and a blue component included in the extracted region. The point is that the color difference of the components is calculated, and the quality of the strawberries is determined from the color difference.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a characteristic configuration of the strawberry inspection device according to the first aspect, wherein the determining means obtains and sets a differential value in the longitudinal direction of the strawberry based on the brightness information of the extracted region. If there is a differential value equal to or larger than the value, it is determined to be defective.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a characteristic configuration of the strawberry inspection device according to the first aspect, wherein the determining unit is defective if the width of the extracted region corresponding to the radial direction is greater than or equal to a set value. There is a point to determine.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a characteristic configuration of the strawberry inspection device according to the first aspect, wherein the determination means determines that the extracted region is defective if there is a region other than strawberry. It is in.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a characteristic configuration of a strawberry inspection device, wherein in the strawberry inspection device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, a conveying unit for conveying the strawberry in a longitudinal direction is provided, and the imaging unit is the conveying unit. The point is that it is configured to continuously capture images of each of the strawberries that are transported by the fixed position.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a strawberry plant inspection apparatus characterized in that, in the strawberry plant inspection apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the conveying unit separates one strawberry plant from the accumulated strawberry plant and the separated strawberry plant. An air-conveying unit that conveys by blowing air in the longitudinal direction of the strawberries is provided.

[Action]

In the characteristic configuration of claim 1, the image capturing means captures an image of strawberries,
The image processing means extracts the region of the strawberry based on the imaged information, and the determining means determines the quality of the strawberry based on the information of the region.

According to the characterizing feature of claim 2, in addition to the function according to the characterizing feature of claim 1, there is the following effect.

A color camera is used as the imaging unit, and the discrimination unit calculates the color difference between the red component and the blue component included in the area extracted by the image processing unit, and discriminates whether the strawberries are good or bad based on this color difference. In other words, a large color difference is in a portion that is discolored in yellow, and strawberries having such a portion are discriminated as defective products.

According to the characterizing feature of claim 3, in addition to the effect of the characterizing feature of claim 1, the following effect is provided.

The discriminating means obtains a differential value in the longitudinal direction of the strawberry based on the luminance information of the area extracted by the image processing means, and if there is a differential value equal to or larger than the set value, it is determined as a defective product. In other words, if there is a marked light and dark spot along the longitudinal direction of the strawberries, the strawberries are judged to be defective.

According to the characterizing feature of claim 4, in addition to the function according to the characterizing feature of claim 1, there is the following effect.

If the width of the region extracted by the image processing unit in the radial direction of the strawberries is equal to or larger than the set value, the determination unit determines that the product is defective. In other words, if there is a part that is significantly swollen, then that straw grass is identified as a defective product.

According to the characterizing feature of claim 5, in addition to the function according to the characterizing feature of claim 1, there is the following effect.

The discriminating means discriminates that the product is defective if a region (for example, a void) other than strawberries is present in the region extracted by the image processing means. In other words, if there is a rift, that straw grass is identified as a defective product.

According to the characterizing feature of claim 6, in addition to the function according to the characterizing features of claims 1 to 5, there is the following effect.

The conveying means conveys the strawberries in the longitudinal direction. Then, the image pickup means continuously picks up the images of the conveyed strawberries at fixed positions. That is, the strawberries being conveyed are divided in the longitudinal direction and imaged.

According to the characterizing feature of claim 7, in addition to the function according to the characterizing feature of claim 6, there is the following effect.

The conveying means separates one strawberry from the accumulated strawberry by the separating means, and the separated strawberry is conveyed by the wind conveying means in the longitudinal direction of the strawberry.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the characteristic configuration of claim 1, since it is possible to extract the entire surface of each strawberry as a region without being affected by the degree of proficiency or fatigue of the worker to be inspected, a shadowed portion when imaging is performed. Is eliminated, and the abnormality is not overlooked,
With higher reliability of the test result, it becomes possible to test the strawberries accurately and quickly.

The characteristic configuration of claim 2 has the following effect in addition to the effect of the characteristic structure of claim 1.

The color inspection of strawberries will be automated, and it will be possible to detect dead and sunburned strawberries accurately and quickly.

The characteristic configuration of claim 3 has the following effect in addition to the effect of the characteristic structure of claim 1.

The inspection of the shape of the strawberries in the longitudinal direction is automated, and the bending of the strawberries can be detected accurately and quickly.

The characteristic configuration of claim 4 has the following effect in addition to the effect of the characteristic structure of claim 1.

The inspection of the width corresponding to the radial direction of the strawberries is automated, and the bulge due to the tearing of the strawberries can be detected accurately and quickly.

The characteristic configuration of claim 5 has the following effect in addition to the effect of the characteristic structure of claim 1.

It becomes possible to accurately and quickly find voids and the like due to tearing of strawberries.

The characteristic configuration of claim 6 has the following effect in addition to the effect of the characteristic structure of claims 1 to 5.

Since each strawberries are divided in the longitudinal direction and imaged in close-up, the area of the strawberries extracted in the imaging range is widened, the resolution is increased, and the inspection can be performed more accurately. Further, there is also an advantage that it is possible to use a compact image pickup means having a narrow image pickup range such that the entire length of the strawberries cannot be picked up at a short distance.

The characteristic configuration of claim 7 has the following effect in addition to the effect of the characteristic structure of claim 6.

Since the labor for separating one straw grass from the accumulated straw grass and transporting the separated straw grass so as to cross the visual field of the imaging means is automated, the inspection can be performed more quickly. Further, since air is used, there is an advantage that a complicated feeding mechanism is not required.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the strawberries inspection apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the strawberry plant inspection device comprises a strawberry plant supply unit (A), a strawberry plant transfer unit (B), an inspection unit (C), and a strawberry plant storage unit (D).

As shown in FIG. 2, the strawberry feeding section (A) narrows the bottom of an inverted triangular hopper (1) to form a guide path (1a), and a pair of upper and lower feeding rollers (2) as separating means. , (3) are provided near the guide path (1a). In the strawberry feeding section (A), the hay accumulated in the hopper (1) is guided one by one to the guide path (1a), and is sandwiched between the feeding rollers (2) and (3) to rotate. It is fed forward. Although not illustrated, a feeding mechanism that feeds one of the strawberries in the hopper (1) and the rollers (2) and (3) is provided so that each one can be accurately fed. .

The strawberry conveying section (B) (corresponding to a conveying means) is provided with an air blowing pipe (4) on the feeding side of the feeding rollers (2) and (3), and an air pump is provided near the inlet of the air blowing pipe (4). (5) is connected to blow compressed air into the pipe (see FIG. 3).
In this straw grass transport section (B), the feeding rollers (2),
The straw blowed out by (3) is an air blowing pipe (4) by the suction force generated when blowing compressed air.
It is accurately sucked into the inlet of the air passage and is carried out together with air through the inside of the air blowing pipe (4). In this embodiment, the feeding rollers (2) and (3) correspond to the separating means, and the air blowing pipe (4) and the air pump (5).
Corresponds to a wind transport means.

The inspection unit (C) irradiates the strawberries conveyed by the straw conveyor unit (B) with light obliquely from the lower side in the conveying direction 2
Lighting (6), two blackboards (7) that are the background of strawberries, an imaging means (8) for imaging strawberries illuminated by the lighting (6) against the blackboard (7), and an imaging means ( 8) a first photosensor (9) for detecting whether or not strawberry is being conveyed, and an image processing means for extracting the strawberry region (X) based on the image pickup information of the image pickup means (8). (Ten)
And a discriminating means (11) for discriminating the quality of the strawberries based on the information of the region (X). As shown in FIG. 4, the image processing means (10) and the discrimination means (11) are control devices (H) configured by using a microcomputer.
Is included as part of.

The straw storage unit (D) has a two-layer structure of a defective container (12) for storing the strawberries that have failed the inspection and a non-defective container (13) for storing the strawberries that have passed the inspection. A partition plate (14) for selectively opening the entrances of the defective container (12) and the non-defective container (13) is provided at the entrance portion. The partition plate (14) is the control device (H).
It is interlocked with a switching mechanism (15) that operates in response to a command from. A second photo sensor (16) for detecting whether or not strawberries are stored in front of the partition plate (14).
Is provided, and a detection signal is sent to the control device (H) during the detection of strawberries.

Next, the structure and function of the inspection unit (C) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The image pickup means (8) includes two color cameras (8A),
(8B) is used. These color cameras (8A),
(8B) is arranged at a position facing each other in the longitudinal direction of the strawberry, and close to the upper side and the lower side along the longitudinal direction of the strawberry. And two color cameras (8A), (8B)
6 continuously picks up the conveyed strawberries one by one from the upper and lower sides as shown in FIG. 6, and alternately outputs the color information and the luminance information in each image. In addition, (E) in the drawing is an imaging visual field per time.

The image processing means (10) is a color camera (8A),
The color information and the luminance information output from (8B) are quantized, and the luminance information is binarized based on the brightness of each imaging cycle and converted into binarized image information, and based on that, the strawberry region in each image Extract (X). In the binarized image, the bright part is the strawberry region (X) (see FIG. 7).

The first photo sensor (9) is configured by arranging a light emitting element (9a) and a light receiving element (9b) between two color cameras (8A) and (8B) with a conveyance route of strawberries being sandwiched therebetween. It was done. When the strawberries pass between the light emitting element (8a) and the light receiving element (8b), the light of the light emitting element (8a) is blocked by the strawberries and does not reach the light receiving element (8b). It is designed to be sent to (H).

The second photo sensor (16) also basically comprises a light emitting element (16a) and a light receiving element (16b), and operates on the same principle as the first photo sensor (9). Further, the distance between the first photo sensor (9) and the second photo sensor (16) is assumed to be longer than the length of strawberries.

The discriminating means (11) is an image processing means (10) while the detection signal is continuously sent from the first photo sensor (9).
Based on the color information and the area information obtained from, the quality of strawberries is repeatedly determined by the following method.

(A) The width corresponding to the radial direction of the strawberries in the region (X) obtained above is sequentially calculated along the longitudinal direction of the strawberries, and if there is a width equal to or larger than the set value as shown in FIG. In this way, straw grass that has been torn and bulged in width can be rejected.

(A) The area (X) is inspected, and as shown in FIG. 9, the strawberry that has an area that is not strawberry is rejected. The non-straw grass region is the blackboard (7) in the background that can be seen from the slits of the straw grass, and corresponds to the dark portion in the region (X) in the binarized image. With this technique, it is possible to reject straw grasses that have crevices and voids even if the width is normal.

(C) Select pixels arranged in a horizontal line in the area (X),
From the luminance information on the line (L) of this pixel, the light and dark differential values are sequentially obtained along the longitudinal direction of the strawberry, and if the differential values have a differential value equal to or larger than the set value, the strawberry is rejected. 10th
As shown in the figure, if there is a bent portion of the strawberries, the surface of the strawberries is shaded by illuminating it obliquely. If the differential value is obtained along the longitudinal direction of the strawberries, the differential value becomes large at the boundary of light and dark in the shaded area. Therefore, with this method, it is possible to reject strawberries having a bent portion.

(D) Red component (R) included in the extracted region (X)
And the color difference (2R-B) of the blue component (B) is calculated and binarized based on this color difference (2R-B) to be converted into binary image information. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, strawberries having a preset number of pixels with a large color difference (2R-B) in the area (X) are rejected. The color difference (2R-B) is large in the pixels in the areas that have withered and turned yellow. Therefore, with this method, strawberries that have withered and turned yellow can be rejected.

The discrimination means (11) is a color camera (8A), (8B)
Image information of strawberries output from (a) ~ (d)
Inspected one after another by the method of, and if it fails at any stage by the end of the imaging of one straw grass, it is determined as a defective product,
After that, the quality of the strawberries is not determined. on the other hand,
If all passes until the end of the imaging of one straw grass, it is determined as a good product. By the way, it is judged that the detection signal from the first photo sensor (9) is cut off that the imaging of one straw grass has been completed.

The control device (H) switches the mechanism (15) so as to properly sort the strawberries based on the inspection result of the discrimination means (11).
Operate.

That is, when it is determined that the strawberries are defective, it is confirmed that the detection signal from the second photo sensor (16) is not sent, and then the partition plate (14) is swung downward. By doing so, the entrance of the defective product container (12) is opened so that the strawberries can be stored in the defective product container (12).

When it is determined that the strawberries are non-defective, it is confirmed that the detection signal from the second photo sensor (16) has not been sent, and then the partition plate (14) is swung upward to determine whether the non-defective items are good. The entrance of the container (13) is opened so that the strawberries are stored in the non-defective container (13).

As described above, in this strawberry weed inspection apparatus, it is possible to accurately and promptly determine the quality of the strawberry weeds and to select them without relying on human hands.

[Another embodiment]

 Next, an example of implementing the present invention in another form will be described.

As shown in FIG. 12, three guide plates (20) are erected in a vertical position along the guide path (1a) at the bottom of the hopper (1). The four strawberries accumulated in the hopper (1a) are guided to the guide path (1a) by four, and the feeding rollers (2),
It is sandwiched between (3) and is fed forward four by four. Further, after that, a set of four pieces will be inspected. In this way, if a plurality of strawberries are inspected at once, the inspection speed can be significantly improved when the ratio of defective products is small.

As shown in FIG. 13, a slanting plate (21) is provided below the conveying path for the strawberries, and two slanting plates (21) are provided on the lower side of the slanting plate (21).
Two belt type conveyors (22), (22) are installed in parallel. In addition, a defective product container (12) is provided directly below the transfer conveyors (22) and (22), and a non-defective product is provided next to the defective product container (12) located below the transfer end side of the transfer conveyors (22) and (22). A container (13) is provided, and a blower device (23) for blowing air downward is provided above the transfer conveyors (22), (22).

Then, when it is determined that the strawberries supplied from the straw feeder (A) are defective, the inclined plate (21) is swung downwards so as to slide down into the defective container (12). To do. When it is determined that the product is a non-defective product, the carrier conveyors (22) and (22) are slid down and dropped, and the carrier conveyors (22) and (22) are received at the start ends of the conveyors to carry and end. So that it falls into the good container (13). In addition, the wind blown from the air blower (23) blows against the strawberries that are being transported, and the strawberries that were overlooked in the inspection among the weak strawberries that have creases or tears will bend and become defective containers. Make it fall into (12).

By the way, because the good products will also be mixed in the strawberries stored in the defective container (12), they are artificially selected when the number is large.

The present invention can be implemented in various other ways.

For example, the image pickup means (8b) may be a monochrome camera, or one or three or more may be used.

When the quality of the strawberries is determined by the determination means (11), the methods described in the examples may be performed in a different order to perform the inspection, or only one of the methods may be performed to perform the inspection. May be.

In calculating the color difference between the red color component (R) and the blue color component (B) included in the area (X) by the discrimination means (11),
You may change the ratio of each component arbitrarily. For example,
The color difference may be calculated by RB or 1.5R-B.

It should be noted that reference numerals are added to the claims for convenience of comparison with the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the structures of the accompanying drawings by the entry.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the strawberry plant inspection device according to the present invention.
The figure is a diagram showing the overall schematic configuration, FIG. 2 is a front view of the straw feeder, FIG. 3 is a vertical side view of the air blowing pipe, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration, FIG. 5 is a flow chart executed by the control device, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an image pickup range in the case of continuously picking up one straw grass, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are A binarized image processed with luminance information, FIG. 10 is a grayscale image based on luminance information, and FIG. 11 is a binarized image based on color information. FIG. 12 is a front view of a straw feeder of another embodiment, and FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of another embodiment. (2), (3) ... Separation means, (4), (5) ... Wind transport means, (8b) ... Imaging means, (8A), (8B) ... Color camera, (10) ... Image processing means, (11) ... discrimination means.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup means (8) for picking up an image of strawberries, an image processing means (10) for extracting an area (X) of the strawberries based on the image pickup information of the image pickup means (8), and the area (X). And a discriminating means (11) for discriminating the quality of the strawberries based on the information of (1), and the image pickup means (8) is configured to image the strawberries from different angles around the axis along the longitudinal direction of the strawberries. Strawberry inspection device. 2. The image pickup means (8) is a color camera (8
A) and (8B), and the discrimination means (11) calculates the color difference between the red component and the blue component contained in the extracted region (X), and discriminates whether the strawberries are good or bad from this color difference. The strawberries inspection apparatus according to claim 1, which is configured. 3. The discriminating means (11) obtains a differential value in the longitudinal direction of the strawberry based on the luminance information of the extracted area (X), and discriminates it as defective if a differential value equal to or larger than a set value exists. The strawberries inspection apparatus according to claim 1. 4. The strawberry inspecting device according to claim 1, wherein the discriminating means (11) discriminates a defect if the width of the extracted region (X) in the radial direction of the strawberry is not less than a set value. 5. The strawberry plant inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discriminating means (11) discriminates that the region (X) is defective if there is a region other than strawberry plant in the extracted region (X). 6. Conveying means (B) for conveying strawberries in the longitudinal direction.
6. The image pickup means (8) according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup means (8) is configured to continuously pick up images of each of the strawberries conveyed by the conveyance means (B) at a fixed position. Strawberries inspection equipment. 7. The separating means (2) and (3) for separating one strawberry from the accumulated strawberry and the conveying means (B) and a wind for conveying the separated strawberry in the longitudinal direction of the strawberry. The strawberries inspection apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising transportation means (4) and (5).