This study proposes an automatic apple sorting and quality inspection system, which is based on
real-time processing. Golden and Starking Delicious, and Granny Smith apple cultivars are sorted into
different classes by their colour, size and weight. It also detects apples affected by scab, stain and rot.
The proposed system consists of a roller, transporter and class conveyors combined with an enclosed
cabin with machine vision, load cell and control panel units. The roller and transporter conveyors have
two channels.
In order to analyze the visual properties of apples, two identical industrial colour cameras are set on the
roller conveyor. Four images of any apple rolling on the conveyor can be captured and processed using
image processing software in 0.52 s. As a result, the proposed machine can sorted averagely 15 apples
in per second using two channels, in real time.
In the experimental studies, the system design was tested using three different conveyor band
velocities and three apple cultivars to sort and inspect 183 samples with an average sorting accuracy rate
of 73–96%.