Tomato Maturity Estimation Using Deep Neural Network

In this study, we propose a tomato maturity estimation approach based on a deep neural network. Tomato images were obtained using an RGB camera installed on a monitoring robot and samples were cropped to generate a dataset with which to train the classification model. The classification model is trained using cross-entropy loss and mean–variance loss, which can implicitly provide label distribution knowledge. For continuous maturity estimation in the test stage, the output probability distribution of four maturity classes is calculated as an expected (normalized) value. Our results demonstrate that the F1 score was approximately 0.91 on average, with a range of 0.85–0.97. Furthermore, comparison with the hue value—which is correlated with tomato growth—showed no significant differences between estimated maturity and hue values, except in the pink stage. From the overall results, we found that our approach can not only classify the discrete maturation stages of tomatoes but can also continuously estimate their maturity. Furthermore, it is expected that with higher accuracy data labeling, more precise classification and higher accuracy may be achieved.