Tomra Food to reveal AI-powered fruit sorting and grading solutions at IFPA show
Tomra Food is launching two sorting and grading solutions at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce & Floral Show.
One new offering is the Tomra Neon pre-grader for machine-harvested fresh blueberries.
Although automated blueberry harvesting is faster and less costly than manual harvesting, it brings unwanted debris and fruit clusters to processing and packing lines for the fresh blueberry market, according to a news release. To address these challenges, Tomra Neon pre-grades machine-harvested blueberries before transferring the fruit directly onto Tomra’s KATO260 optical sorter and grader, the release said.
“Tomra Neon optimizes optical grader efficiency by removing more than 95% of clusters and more than 90% of green and red berries,” the company said in the release. “It boasts a throughput capacity of up to 500 berries per second and can maintain a speed of up to 280 berries per second even when fruit removal is as high as 40%.”
Tomra Neon uses artificial intelligence to identify, differentiate and remove unwanted clusters, undersize fruit and unripe fruit, the release said.
In addition, Tomra says it is unveiling the new-generation Spectrim X series, which leverages deep learning for unparalleled sorting and grading precision.
Tomra says it continues to develop its LUCAi Deep Learning AI platform, first introduced in 2017, to expand its applications across solutions; the first of these is Spectrim X series. Developed by a team of industry-leading scientists, engineers, researchers and experts, Spectrim X series brings to the apple market Tomra’s extensive knowledge and collective experience developing commodity-specific AI-powered solutions, according to the release.
Deep-learning technology uses pre-trained models to teach computers how to process data, such as complex patterns in photos.
“Spectrim X series assesses thousands of high-resolution, multichannel fruit images every second,” the release said. “Then it cross-references what it sees with vast amounts of data to make grading decisions to meet precise market demands.”
During 18 months of real-world testing in the U.S. and New Zealand, the Spectrim X series showed a significant leap forward in performance compared to its predecessor, the release said.
While the Spectrim X series integrates LUCAi technology, existing Spectrim customers who grade apples can enjoy the benefits with the LUCAi upgrade package, the release said. New plug-and-play deep-learning models, pre-trained by vast datasets, that can precisely detect and classify even the trickiest apple defects, such as splits and punctures across multiple varieties, according to the release.
The next LUCAi release will focus on cherries, adding deep-learning technology to the InVision2 cabinet, the release said. Tomra’s LUCAi will then improve operations across other commodities, including avocados, cherries, citrus, kiwifruit and stone fruit, the release said.
The IFPA conference and trade show runs from Oct. 19-21 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. Tomra Food can be found on booth No. 3304, where the Tomra Neon pre-grader and Spectrim X series will be on display, the release said.
The Tomra stand also boasts an interactive hologram display that showcases the working principles of the Tomra Neon and Spectrim X series, as well as other Tomra Fresh Food sorting and grading solutions including the Tomra 5S Advanced sorting platform, Inspectra2 for non-invasive internal defect grading, CURO filling system, and KATO precision grading system, according to the release.
