MISGAV, Israel – FruitSpec, a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group (SGX: 42T; OTCQX: TRNLY) announced that it completed successful field studies with its solution for fruit yields estimates/projections. The trials, which used FruitSpec's hyperspectral machine vision technology, resulted in estimates that were more than 90% accurate.
No technology available today provides accurate yield estimations early in the season, which impacts key business decisions made along the entire fruit value chain. Current yield estimations are based on extrapolation from manual counts of a few sampled trees. As these estimates may vary widely in their accuracy, the results are detrimental business decisions that cause a loss of revenue to all players – from growers to retailers.
FruitSpec's hyperspectral machine vision technology consists of specially designed sensor pods mounted on any vehicle that scans the trees in the orchard. Applied computer vision and a hyperspectral algorithm automatically count and estimate fruit number and size, focused at the green fruit stage. Accurate yield estimates offer fruit packing houses and growers a service that enables them to make sound decisions which impact revenues and financial stability, without adding to the workload.
Recently, FruitSpec completed two international field studies, predicting yields six months before picking. FruitSpec's early estimations demonstrated a more than 90% accuracy rate compared with the orchard's actual yield.
The head of an international packing house commented: "To be able to predict the yield from my orchard early on in the growing season and with high accuracy is a game-changer for how I manage major business decisions."
In September 2018, FruitSpec was granted a United States patent for its method and system for crop yield estimation. The patent granted re-affirms the company's technology.
FruitSpec CEO Raviv Kula commented: "We are extremely pleased with our field study results, which confirmed that our technology works in the field, and not only in the lab. Additionally, receiving the US patent for our technology further affirms our technology and enables us to go out to investors with a strong story in support of our company's innovation."
FruitSpec will present in the Technology Showcase at the Agri-Food Innovation Week in Singapore, November 27-29, 2018.
Source: FruitSpec
