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Gearbox Innovations delivers 'digital inspector' to Looye Kwekers

Gearbox Innovations delivers 'digital inspector' to Looye Kwekers

“With vision and AI as a starting point, the product family continues to grow.”

Tholen – Since its introduction, the concept of the 'digital inspector' has become widely known in the fruit and vegetable and (greenhouse) horticulture sectors. GearVision, as the machine developed by Gearbox Innovations is officially called, is finding its way into the inspection and processing processes of an increasing number of growers, breeders and trading companies. In addition, GearSense, the digital cultivation assistant, was added to the ‘product family’ last year. "With smart cameras, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, we help to simplify, improve and accelerate daily work," says Ab van Staalduinen of Gearbox. "In this way, we are creating the colleagues of the future."

The Westland-based company has grown considerably in recent times. "Nevertheless, we are still located on a horticultural road between the greenhouses in Maasdijk. However, we have recently moved to a new location with more space. Production has already been relocated, and the rest will follow soon."

The first steps were taken at the end of 2016 based on customer demand. This quickly resulted in our own products, with GearVision being the first to be released to the public. "We are a true Westland company, so we only went public once everything was working and we were completely sure about it."

First image, then algorithms

Vision, or image technology, is the starting point for all products developed by Gearbox. "It is the common factor that recurs in every product. First, we ensure that the product is clearly visible, and then we assess the crop or quality using vision analysis with artificial intelligence (AI)."

The result: data, lots of data. "You then want to draw sound conclusions based on that data. It is precisely in the area of vision and data management that we make the difference." GearSense offers assistance in the greenhouse with growth monitoring and digital counting boxes for both vegetables and cut flowers. "We now use GearVisions for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and aubergines, among other things, but we can also digitally inspect onions and flower bulbs."

Initial inspection

Looye Kwekers is one of the cultivation companies where a digital inspector is now active. GearVision is there to carry out quality assessments on tomatoes. "Looye now has access to a wealth of information that it never had before," says Lisanne van den Berg, Quality Officer at Looye Kwekers and closely involved in the introduction of the digital inspector at the tomato growing company.

Looye has been using GearVision for over six months now. It performs the initial inspection of the trough cherry tomatoes. "We are currently fine-tuning the system so that, in time, the inspector with a checklist and the naked eye can be replaced by the much faster digital inspector," says Lisanne. "Looye wants as many people as possible to enjoy tasty tomatoes. GearVision enables Looye to assess the tomatoes even better on a large scale."

Together with GearVision, Looye can now look even deeper into the cultivation and processing process and optimise it. "For example, it is now possible to compare individual greenhouse departments with each other," says Lisanne. "The machine produces detailed reports on aspects such as shape and colour, and the exact weight of each tomato is now known." Looye's inspectors teach GearVision how to meet their strictest requirements, and with the digital inspector as a colleague, tasty tomatoes can be inspected on a much larger scale.

Fust Inspector easily implemented

The Gearbox product family also has a 'little brother' of the digital inspector, specifically for container inspection. With this Container Inspector, too, vision is leading and the inspection supports the increasingly stringent hygiene requirements in greenhouse horticulture. "The Container Inspector has already accumulated more than two million crates of experience. It checks whether crates are clean and no longer contain any organic material. It is a compact setup that, in addition to improving quality, also saves on the need for an employee who would otherwise have to perform this high-capacity check," concludes Ab.

View the Vegetable News here