Algorithms and digital images are used to check whether the papaya is ripe

There is no mechanized harvesting of papaya, despite it being an old desire of fruit growers. One difficulty in achieving a reliable automated method is identifying fruits at different stages – ripe, close to ripening or still green –, with variations between them. In search of a solution to the problem, a group from the Faculty of Food Engineering at the State University of Campinas (FEA-Unicamp) has investigated the use of algorithms and computer vision for the analysis of agricultural products.