SCIENTISTS at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in London, England, have developed imaging technology that may some day solve labor shortages, as it can identify the ripeness of strawberries before they are picked. The NPL's Science Area Leader for Electromagnetic Applications, Richard Dudley, says it is the first unit that uses a combination of micro-, radio, and far infrared waves to analyze fruit. "Others have used single-point measurements to understand water and sugar, for watermelons for example," he says, "but I think we have been the first to image and use the images for harvesting applications." The droid can measure the strawberry's Brix using microwave technology because the material properties of a high-sugar content fruit is different than one with more water, says Dudley. That said, it's not easy to get around the age-old problem of determining the ripeness of a given piece of fruit without damaging it. "Getting the accuracy of our technique in line with what can be achieved with handheld destructive Brix testing — refrac-tometers, for example — is challenging for a non-contact imager," he says.
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