Smart Nuts Sorting Machine
Nuts are nutrient-dense and create great economic value. However, to maintain high quality, food processing factories must rely on a large number of experienced workers to sort and filter the nuts. However, workers with abundant experience are scarce and aging. The factories are short-handed, but if they turn to less-experienced workers, the performance may not meet expectations and increase the overall cost. Therefore, the factories need to rely on systems with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure quality and speed up the work.
Challenges
The customer, Cam2vision, was looking for a small form factor 3.5" embedded SBC to build its intelligent sorting solution to improve nuts quality control. The industrial motherboard requires a powerful CPU to ensure smooth operation with its intelligent sorting software. A wide-range operating temperature design is also necessary for a variety of harsh environments. To complete the visual inspection, the single board computer needs at least two LAN ports to connect two cameras.
Main Requirements
- 3.5-inch embedded motherboard
- High-performance yet low-power CPU
- Wide-range operating temperature design for harsh environments
- Fanless operation and rugged design
- Multiple LAN ports for cameras
Solution
To address the customer’s requirements, Axiomtek proposed its CAPA311, a 3.5-inch embedded SBC featuring the onboard quad-core Intel Atom® x5-E3940 processor (codename: Apollo Lake). The fanless small form factor embedded board is highly reliable with an extended operating temperature range of -40°C to +80°C.
The low-power embedded board provides rich I/O, including two USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0; there are two LAN ports and four COM ports, with two RS-232/422/485 and two RS-232. The display interface consists of one HDMI and one LVDS, while VGA and eDP are optional. In addition, it features two PCI Express Mini Card slots for various peripheral modules such as Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G LTE.
Application: AI vision in sorting resolves the labor shortage and inexperience issues
Sorting and filtering nuts is highly repetitive work, and it is what artificial intelligence excels in; it can process workloads of a high volume of data and repeat it in a split second. Cam2vision has utilized Axiomtek’s CAPA311 to analyze product quality with its intelligent sorting software. With a powerful image processing engine and AI algorithms, it ensures nuts' quality and improves production efficiency.
To train the AI model, tens of thousands of pictures were uploaded to classify the nuts. Once the AI is deployed, it will not only save labor costs but also improve product quality. The factories do not need to worry about labor shortages either. Most importantly, the precision of the AI model can be continuously enhanced by training.
The nuts sorting machine helps end users maintain high quality and accelerate the sorting process. Axiomtek not only provides all-around services but also a variety of single-board computers with different configurations for customers to develop their systems.
“With Axiomtek’s fast-response services and extraordinary product expertise, we came out with our intelligent sorting solution on time to meet the delivery schedule of our end customer. Axiomtek’s small form factor CAPA311 features low power consumption, fanless operation, high network connectivity, strong graphical performance, and abundant I/O options, helping us stand out from our competitors.”
— Hannah Sa, Sales Manager, Cam2Vision
System Configurations of the CAPA311
- Intel Atom® x5-E3940 processor (Code name: Apollo Lake)
- 8GB DDR3L memory onboard
- 2 USB 2.0 and 4 USB 3.0
- 2 full-size PCI Express Mini Card slots
- High-resolution HD support for display interfaces: HDMI, LVDS, VGA (optional), and eDP (optional)
- Wide operating temperature range from -40°C to +80°C
- +12V DC power input with AT auto power-on function