Projects 3D Leek Trimming

If you are a leek grower who produces tons of leeks throughout the season, you will already have a production line that may, or may not be automated.

If you are selling leeks with their roots removed, presentation and quality of cut is important. Worst case scenario is that your conveyor is feeding a small army of people armed with knives who pick up a leek and trim it at the base of the stem to remove the roots. The key is to cut the stem at exactly the right place; leaving some roots on is unacceptable, cutting too much into the stem damages the shelf life of the leek as it will dry out and start to ‘telescope’. This affects the shelf life and therefore the value of your product.

You may have a fully automated leek trimming line, in which case it is highly likely that this is without any ‘intelligence’ in which case there will be a mechanical assembly that pushes the leek up to an end stop so that the cut can be estimated. This means that some leeks will be undercut and some will be overcut.

USING 3D WITH AI TO MAKE THE PERFECT CUT

The Scorpion Vision leek trimmer uses a unique combination of 3D Vision and AI to emulate the actions of a human by identifying the exact point to trim the leek – with millimetric precision.

Leeks are fed onto a flighted conveyor system and passed under a Scorpion 3D Agritech camera. The vision system locates the base of the stem and finds the point at which the curvature to the root base starts, makes a decision on where to cut it and then passes the coordinates to a servo with a water blade.

This is not a ‘dumb’ cut. The servo is not only guided along the stem, up or down to the correct position but the vision system also provides the angle to cut at, so leeks that are not placed straight or have not grown straight, are cut along the correct angle. This reduces waste and improves the yield of such a system.

REDUCE LABOUR COSTS WHILST IMPROVING QUALITY

  • Up to 2 leeks per second
  • A cut decision based on colour and shape
  • 90+% of leeks are trimmed successfully
  • Where a cut cannot be determined, it will be saved for a manual cut
  • A water blade is used which enhances shelf life
  • A ‘fresh blade’ each time means no cross contamination

GET IN TOUCH

We are always delighted to hear from our customers. If you’d like to ask a question, make an enquiry or request support, please contact us through one of the methods below or by using the enquiry form.

Telephone: +44 (0) 1590 679333
Sales: [email protected]
Technical: [email protected]

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