Showcase given by Jim Owen to CASC team members and advisory panel on the Caliper and Counter technologies.

1. Update: Automation for Bare Root
Ornamental and Fruit Tree
Inventory
J.S. Owen Jr., W. Shi, H.M. Stoven,
S. Singh, K. Lewis, S. Doane, M. Bergerman

2. Caliper, Counter and GPS tracking
- Year 3 report
 Review of goals
 What is new with Caliper
 What is new with Counter
 Location tracking with inexpensive GPS
 Caliper, Counter and GPS field testing and
demo in WA, OR and CA
 Outreach
 Barriers to adoption / Economics analysis

3. 3-year goals
Activities Deliverables Success Criteria
1a. Redesign and reimplement 1a. New on-the-fly caliper 1. Caliper measurements within
on-the-fly caliper device 1b. Report on the comparison of 1/8” (3 ) of staked bare root
1b. Design and construct 3-point caliper device data to actual in fruit, flowering, and shade trees
hitch for caliper in-field testing WA and OR for bare-root at 6” (±2”) above the graft union
fruit, flowering, and shade trees or soil travelling 3 mph or
greater using a 3-point hitch
2. Continue refinement and 2. Report on the comparison of 2a. Count trees greater than ¼”
integration of counter device to counter device data to actual in (6 mm) caliper with 96%
count bare-root fruit, flowering, WA and OR for bare-root accuracy at 3 mph or greater
and shade trees before harvest; fruit, flowering, and shade trees 2b. Count trees greater that ½”
all in-field tests conducted using (13 mm) caliper with 98%
existing, on-farm equipment accuracy at 5 mph or greater
while conducting simultaneous
production-related tasks
3. Conduct field tests in WA and 3. Reports of tests conducted 3. Repeated trials, day and
OR at night and day using 3- night, at OR and WA nurseries
point hitch implemented and reported
4. Identify hardware or software 4. Low-cost counter device with 4. Counter device sale price <
needed for integration of integrated electronics and $2,000
device(s) that lead to successful processing
commercialization

4. Caliper - Field
 New caliper design and built to overcome
stake
 Design and fabricate 3-point hitch for caliper
in-field testing
 Caliper measurements need to be
determined at:
 distance of 10 to 20” from tree
 6” (±2”) above the graft union or soil travelling
 travelling 3 mph
 Caliper measurements within 1/8” of staked
bare root fruit, flowering, and shade trees

5. Counter - Field
 Purchase 2 new counters operated by netbook
 Imputable size info to increase accuracy?
 Design and fabricate dual mount for counters on:
 Tractor
 ATV
 Count trees greater than ¼”
(6 mm) caliper with 96% accuracy at 3 mph or greater
 Count trees greater that ½” (13 mm) caliper with 98%
accuracy at 5 mph or greater

6. Caliper Hardware
 A new caliper
 Low power, sharper lasers
 Reduced laser baseline
 New steel casing
 Improved existing caliper
 Sharper lasers
 More accurate calibration
 Wide field of view

7. Caliper Software
 Completely rewrote to improve
efficiency – can process caliper
estimation at 60 times per
second (60 Hz from 7 Hz last
year)
 Added process to handle trees
with stakes
 Created 2 versions – field and
warehouse calipers
 Added Graphic User Interface
(GUI) and features based on
grower feedback

8. Warehouse Caliper GUI
 User can specify info such as location, tree, grading and
bin capacity
 Logs data, show running status
 Shows bin count and alerts user when bin is full

9. Field Caliper GUI
 User can specify if stakes are used and diameter of stake
 Reports optimum measuring distance range and maximum
allowed traveling speed to ensure adequate estimates per
tree (approx. 12)

10. Caliper field tests
J Frank Schmidt Nursery, OR
 Caliper mounted at the front of tractor

11. Caliper field tests at J Frank Schmidt
nursery on Aug 24-25 2011
 Caliper testing scenario:
 Testing on Red Pointe Maple, 2 years old
 100 trees measured, total length 112 feet
 ~12 inch spacing in between trees
 Trees staked with metal stakes (0.25 in)
 Runs at 1 mph, 2 mph and 3 mph
 Manually measured the caliper of 100 trees as
Ground Truth

12. Caliper field tests
J Frank Schmidt
Aug 24-25 2011

13. Caliper field tests at J Frank Schmidt
nursery on Aug 24-25 2011
 Findings:
 Increased number of hits but this configuration is
more sensitive to errors in keeping sensor at
constant distance from trees.
 Still not able to satisfactorally remove the
stake from calculation of diameter.

14. Caliper field tests at J Frank Schmidt
nursery on Aug 24-25 2011
 Example:
 4 of 23 measurements on one tree
 Stake does not affect any of 23 estimates
stake

15.  Examples of Failures
 3 images of set of 22 estimates
on another tree
 Stake affects on 6 estimates
 Having large # of estimates is
important – can compensate for
errors in detecting stakes

16. Caliper field tests at J Frank Schmidt
nursery on Aug 24-25 2011
 Limitation for staked trees
 Need to know the stake’s caliper
 Stake’s caliper must be significant difference than average tree
caliper (ratio of stake caliper to tree caliper)
 Left figure shows stakes deemed acceptable, right figure shows
stakes that are not viable.
 Remain unable to measure staked trees regardless.

19. Commercialization by Crop Tech LLC

21. Counter Hardware
 2011 Improvements
 Added optics to diffuse laser
beam (by 5X) to get more
hits on the trees
 Optics dramatically improve
performance – accuracy &
speed of travel possible

22. Counter Software
 Added Graphic User Interface to include user
input, pausing and saving data

23. Adams County Nursery, PA

24. J Frank Schmidt
 Staked 2 year old red
pointe maple
 Single row of 708 trees
 ½ - 1 ¼ caliper
 12 inch spacing
Run# Speed #Trees Count Err % Log file
1 3mph 708 681 3.8% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.18:18:59
2 3mph 708 698 1.4% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.18:34:24
3 3mph 708 639 9.7% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.18:56:13
4 3mph 708 696 1.7% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.19:04:42
5 3mph 708 625 11.7% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.19:13:15
6 3mph 708 716 1.1% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.19:19:49

25. J Frank Schmidt
 Staked 2 year old red
pointe maple
 Single row of 708 trees
 ½ - 1 ¼ caliper
 12 inch spacing
Run# Speed #Trees Count Err % Log file
1 3mph 708 681 3.8% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.18:18:59
2 3mph 708 698 1.4% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.18:34:24
3 3mph 708 639 9.7% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.18:56:13
4 3mph 708 696 1.7% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.19:04:42
5 3mph 708 625 11.7% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.19:13:15
6 3mph 708 716 1.1% runCounterAt.2011-08-25.19:19:49

27. Dave Wilson Nursery, CA
 All almond trees on 5” spacing in row ¼” to 5/16” caliper
 Nonpareil Almond on Nemaguard rootstock (1/4”)
 Wood Colony Almond on Nemaguard (5/16”)
 Honey Royale Almond on Nemaguard (5/16”)
Speed Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Mean
Err%
mph 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2.5 52 50 53 51 52 - - - 3.2
3.0 51 52 51 53 48 52 49 48 1.0
4.0 52 51 52 47 - - - - 1.0
5.0 54 47 50 51 49 48 - - 0.4

29. GPS tests for localization
 GPS data recording on rows of tall trees with canopy
which potentially blocks the view of GPS satellites
 Device:
○ U-blox 6T

30. Location tracking with low-cost GPS
 GPS data is logged with
cheap(<$300)GPS unit while conducting
field tasks, such as running caliper or
counter
 Data is post-processed with correction
data from US Govt. the day after
collection
 Field tested in spring (WA) and fall (OR)

32. Washington Tree Fruit Nursery
Spring 2010
 Tractor track:
raw data in
red
 Processed
data in green.

33. J Frank Schmidt Nursery
Fall, 2011
 Tractor track: raw
data in red
 Processed data in
green.
 Processed data
jumps by 1m
occasionally due to
canopy

34. J Frank Schmidt Nursery
Fall, 2011
 Tractor’s speed plot: during travel at
~3.0 mph

35. CASC Research Nursery
II, OR

36. Outreach
 Numerous stakeholder meetings
 Presented to Northwest Nursery Improvement Institute (NNII)
 Demonstration and presentation at Farwest Show
 Research presented to ANLA on ‘Kick the Dirt’ Educational Sessions
 Led education Farwest session on Automation and Technology that
included presentation from Clark Seavert on value proposition.

37. Videos
 Counter
 http://youtu.be/DmA_RrgKyqM
 Caliper
 http://youtu.be/OxvGJSZn_s8

38. Heather Stoven: 503.678.1264 or heather.stoven@oregonstate.edu

39. Jim Owen’s New Contact
Info
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center
1444 Diamond Springs Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455
Tel: 757.363.3904
Lab: 757.363.3906
Fax: 757.363.3950
Email: nsy.prod@vt.edu
Skype/Google: nsy.prod.vt
Web: www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/hampton-roads/