Sorting celeriac with cameras and AI
Can a camera with AI judge whether a celeriac is good? ILTOM, a family business from Sluis, found out during a pilot at KAAP.
Read more at Impuls Zeeland
Location
KAAP Vlissingen
Period
2026
Lead
ILTOM
Why ILTOM wanted to know
ILTOM from Sluis grows, processes and sells celeriac all year round, to customers in the Netherlands and abroad. Selection is still done by hand, and fewer and fewer people are available for that work. It is monotonous, demands a lot of concentration, and experienced staff are hard to find.
What was tested
A vision system takes images of every celeriac and uses AI to spot deviations or defects. This is already done for potatoes and onions. Celeriac is harder: a root does not turn by itself during sorting, so a defect can stay out of view. During the pilot at KAAP, the team tested whether the system can still reliably recognise the different defects.
What it brought
The first results are positive. Some deviations are relatively easy to detect, others are more difficult. Further research will show how reliable the technology eventually is. ILTOM’s goal: depend less on scarce staff, select even better and have more flexibility in busy periods.
How it was arranged
ILTOM tested with a fieldlab voucher from Klik op Morgen, the digitalisation project of Impuls Zeeland. With such a voucher, worth up to € 6,000, Zeeland entrepreneurs test a new technology in a fieldlab before investing in it.
What is tested at KAAP
KAAP was de testplek: hier stond de opstelling met camera’s en werd het systeem op echte knollen getest.
Images of this activity
Without the voucher we would not have started this. We now know it is worth investing further in vision technology for celeriac.
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Elma
Coordinator KAAP
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Working on something similar?
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