Challenge

Our client wanted to be able to sort and grade rice, beans, and seeds at speed, remove impurities and partition into colors. They needed a high-throughput system.

Approach

• We employed hyperspectral imaging to highlight varying degrees of light luminescence, absorption, and transmission
• We developed a light, robust, low power device which could be integrated into farm machinery
• We designed the optical system, characterizing the imaging optics for resolution and distortion at two wavelengths

Benefit

• Using algorithms, we extracted the complexity from the results to create a user-friendly set of data
• High-speed, accurate sorting of a range of food products including rice, beans, seeds, nuts and vegetables
• The machine is in full production and has been highly successful