Only for 5% of fruit that cannot be exported, given its low quality, the producer can lose up to $ 15 million per hectare. Reducing this decline would represent an improvement for the regional economy, if it is estimated that 40% of the fresh cherries exported by Chile come from the Maule. It is noteworthy that, of the 250 tons of this, 35% is not exported due to its low quality.

In response to this local reality, a group of researchers from the Computer Science Civil Engineering career of the Faculty of Engineering of the Autonomous University of Chile in Talca, with Dr. Patricia Möller as leader, will develop the project "Integrated quality control system of cherries and blueberries through photographic analysis and artificial intelligence ”.

It is an automatic system trained with historical information on the quality results of exporting companies, which will be useful for farmers and others interested in the sustainable development of regional agriculture, who will receive reports and alerts through the OK Fruit application. App, for quick decision making.

The project, which has resources from the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness of the Regional Government of Maule (FIC Maule - 2020), will be developed in a period of 24 months and has the technical support of local companies.

LESS POSSIBILITY LOSS

Möller details that, depending on the quality of the fruit, its value can vary by up to 300%, therefore, OK Fruit App will represent a contribution to the region, in order to reduce losses and costs, as well as increase competitiveness. , profits and income, which will result in local economic growth.

The fruit that is not of high quality, can be exported to other markets that are not so demanding, for which the losses could be contained, if its quality is valued opportunely.

Given this possibility, the OK Fruit APP team intends to design an intelligent system that, through photographic images taken with the cell phone, delivers in real time a report on the color, size and defects that the fruit presents.

"The project includes blueberries and cherries at the beginning and then we plan to expand to other species, because there are companies interested not only in the Maule region, but also in other territories," explained Möller, who also explained that they will work together with producers and exporters Maulinos, such as Check Fruit, and from La Araucanía, in addition to representatives of Local Development Programs (Prodesal), who will contribute their knowledge and experience in agricultural production to the proposal.

The professional, who has participated in the development of models based on artificial intelligence in the agricultural area, highlights the importance of developing these systems as a contribution to economic activity, since under her analysis, agriculture 4.0 is increasingly gaining strength and This time it has come to stay, especially in regions such as Maule, of rural origin and characteristics.

CONTRIBUTION FROM THE UNIVERSITY

For the director of the Computer Civil Engineering degree, Dra. Jenny Morales, who is also part of the OK Fruit APP work team, “as a faculty it is extremely important to develop this research and contribute from our area of ​​knowledge and as a team, to the development of the region with research applied to today's problems ”.

This would be the first project awarded for the young Civil Engineering Computer Science degree.

"It is the result of a well-constituted, diverse and varied work team ... We have installed capacity for image analysis and treatment, systems and usability, user experience, as well as artificial intelligence, and others," said Morales, who highlighted that this milestone will allow them to consolidate in the research area, in addition to contributing to the construction of knowledge for the progress and improvement of the regional economy.