Machines sort flowers

The DVT 535C colour vision system has a compete set of colour tools for sorting, colour match and defect detection.

French companies Sterkelec, Avi and Mecaflor have worked together to develop a new generation of machines for the automated sorting of lilies.

This is seasonal activity that is far from easy when you consider the fragile nature of these flowers.

While this activity is very brief and a considerable investment, lily producers have been persuaded by the machine's performance and the almost immediate return on investment.

The machine is equipped with the DVT 535C, a colour vision system from Cognex,allowing them to perform the sorting of the flowers.

The vision system is not limited to a single machine vision function such as colour sorting, but can handle a much broader range of applications with a compete set of colour tools for sorting, colour match and defect detection.

Currently operating in Nantes in France, this sorting machine relies on vision technology to perform and is capable of sorting up to 40,000 stems per hour.

The flowers are sorted into seven categories - including extra, super, first choice, second choice and so on.

For the superior crop of 2007, Sterkelec and Avi developed new vision algorithms that allowed them to optimise the relevance and speed of the sorting by relying on the colour cameras from Cognex.

The system is not sensitive to variations in colour in the stems which are more or less pale.

The system measures the width of the stem and the differences between the leaves and the flowers as well as detecting any wilted flower heads.

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