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info@clkgmbh.de | +49 2505 93620-10 CLK GmbH - Bildverarbeitung & Robotik
[Translate to English:] Agrarindustrie Lösungen bei CLK

Agricultural Industry

Optical Quality Control in Agriculture

Our strengths lie in custom-designed systems tailored to the specific needs of our customers, seamlessly integrating into existing production processes. Many of our customers, including those in the agricultural industry and manufacturing sector, are focused on automation. We assist them in finding solutions for automating production processes or implementing automated quality control.

 

In agriculture, tackling image processing tasks is challenging. Besides dealing with the recognition of natural objects, there are issues related to environmental conditions such as sunlight and contamination. Additionally, it's crucial to house the camera and computing unit robustly and efficiently on the harvesting machine. Conventional industrial computers often fail to meet these demands and are challenging to fit into the driver's cabin. CLK has risen to these challenges and developed a robust embedded camera system that can be integrated efficiently and cost-effectively into harvesting machines.

 

This system leverages cutting-edge deep learning networks to perform tasks such as quality assessments or loss determination successfully. The economic benefit of the system lies in transmitting the field-acquired results via CAN-bus or Ethernet to the customer's system for further processing and evaluation.

[Translate to English:] Zuckerrübe in der Erde

Our CLK system is already successfully used in harvesting machines for sugar beets, enabling quality determination. During operation, it determines the values for injuries, green content, and soil content of sugar beets and transmits them to the machine control via CAN-bus. By utilizing our system, the harvesting machine can optimize its yield and save fuel.

Apart from embedded installations, CLK also offers stationary systems, such as those used in sugar factories, where incoming beet deliveries are documented and evaluated for further processing.

 

Optical Quality Control of Carrots

[Translate to English:] Möhren nach der Ernte

In many cases, our expertise in robotics allows us to tackle tasks like camera-controlled sorting of carrots for packaging. These special systems combine image processing with robotics, granting the robot a new sense – visual processing – making it a "seeing" production tool.

 

The "Carrot Picker" system performs a visual inspection of carrots based on length, width, curvature, color, and defects. It can sort carrots at a rate of 60 picks per minute into the final packaging. The specially equipped ABB Flexpicke robot uses an individual vacuum gripper and an industrial camera with lighting, allowing for the automation of handling, processing, and packaging without the need for precise positioning of the food items beforehand

[Translate to English:] Qualitätsprüfung während der Spinaternte

Optical Quality Control of Spinach

We have also developed an exemplary "Spinach Robot" for rapid and highly precise inspection in spinach processing. A multispectral camera system, combined with height data, first detects foreign objects on the conveyor belt. Then, a robot removes these foreign objects. Based on this development, CLK can create customized solutions. Moreover, we continuously enhance our portfolio, driving forward automation and foreign object control through optical systems and artificial intelligence

[Translate to English:] Obstwiese mit blühenden Apfelbäumen

Thinning of Blossoms - an Important Measure in the Fruit Growing Industry

 

Thinning blossoms is one of the essential measures in the fruit growing industry to optimize desired fruit size and quality for marketing. The biggest challenge is assessing the required thinning strength and necessary spindle speed.

[Translate to English:] SmaArt

In collaboration with FruitTec, we have developed an automation solution for mechanical blossom thinning. The solution was presented at Agritechnica in 2017 and was awarded a silver medal.

The SmaArt system captures the blooming strength of each tree using a camera and sends the visual data to an onboard computer in real-time. Based on a specially developed algorithm, the onboard computer calculates the required spindle speed to achieve the optimal blossom percentage on the tree.

 

 

Advantages of the SmaArt System:

 

 

Cost-effective thinning without chemical agents
Objective and automatic determination of spindle speed
Applicable to all common fruit varieties
Optimization of fruit size and quality
Usable in all weather conditions

 

 

Detection of Botrytis in Tomato Plants

For the EUREGIO project 'Healthy Greenhouse' (Gezonde Kas), we have developed a system that detects the photosynthesis activity of tomato plants, indicating the stress level of the plant and an increased risk of Botrytis (mold).

 

[Translate to English:] Gesunde Tomatenpflanze -Erkennung von Boytritis bei Tomatenpflanzen

Function:

  • A 3D camera detects the stems of tomato plants and determines their position in the system.

  • When the system is in front of a tomato plant, it illuminates the plant with red light. A chlorophyll fluorescence camera then measures the light emitted by the plant due to its photosynthesis activity.

  • If the plant shows increased photosynthesis, it is sprayed with fungicide to prevent the spread of Botrytis.

[Translate to English:] Qualitätskontrolle von Zuckerrüben in der Landwirtschaft

Quality Control of Sugar Beets in Agriculture

During sugar beet control, harvested beets are evaluated before further processing. A 3D scan identifies the beets on a conveyor belt. Subsequently, a 2D color inspection looks for green spots on the beet's head and checks for any leaves that were not cut during harvest.

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