Computer vision guided mechanical thinning of lettuce 

This computer vision guided mechanical thinner is based on our in-row weeding technology that uses information from a video camera to control a mechanical blade that rotates within crop rows to remove weeds. In this case the machine is programmed to also eliminate excess crop plants leaving the desired crop density. As a thinner this technique works well in cap free soils but can be problematic if there is a pronounced cap and plants are not well rooted. To overcome that problem we have applied the same algorithms to the control of a precision spot sprayer so that unwanted plants are removed by herbicides. Results with this technique have been very good.