A professor at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is using research through Artificial Intelligence (AI) to boost banana production in Costa Rica which could help producers save wasted fruit.
Professor David Elizondo, PhD, Professor in Intelligent Transport Systems at DMU’s Department of Computer Technology, has developed a concept that uses AI to deliver cutting methods to reduce fruit waste by producers in the banana industry.
Professor Elizondo and his De Montfort Interdisciplinary Group in Intelligent TranSport (DIGITS) team of mostly volunteers, has developed the OPTIcut technology, which he hopes will soon be ready to be used commercially to help banana growers in South America and elsewhere to make huge savings.
The DMU-created technology has been supported by the university and funds from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) programme and higher education funding. OPTIcut uses state of the art artificial intelligence and 3D image processing algorithms to provide optimized cutting and fruit profiles tailored to each farm.
Professor Elizondo has dedicated the past six years to intensive research into OPTIcut, working in his spare time alongside his main role of collaborative research and lecturing at the university.
“We need to promote OPTIcut,” he said. “The image processing in OPTIcut is state of the art and difficult but we are finalising the last part of this process. I am hoping to raise a lot of interest while I am out in Costa Rica.”
Professor Elizondo, who took up his role at DMU in 2003 after working in industry, has been carrying out research in the field of AI for the past thirty years. He said that while he was concentrating on helping to improve food production in Costa Rica, DMU’s new technology could also be used in the production of other fruit in bunches, such as grapes.
“We are also looking at extending the use of OPTIcut for producers in other countries such as Honduras, Spain, India, Philippines, Ecuador and Guatemala,” Professor Elizondo added. “Producers in these countries will be invited to see the field trials in Costa Rica via the internet.”
