MATURITY CLASSIFICATION OF CACAO BY IMAGE
PROCESSING AND ACOUSTIC SENSING
Princes D. Carbajosa Devy C. Lugay
University of Southeastern University of Southeastern
Philippines, Obrero Philippines, Obrero
Campus Campus
princescarbajosa@gmail.com devylugay504@gmail.com
Keywords: image processing, acoustic
sensing, fruit-grading, Cacao, ripeness
I. INTRODUCTION
Philippines has a great potential in
growing Cacao. [1]
Due to its long history in the Philippines, it
has become an integral part of Filipino
culture. While the production of tablea is
and always should be an important part of
our heritage, the country can stand to benefit
more from this key global commodity by
rehabilitating our native varieties and
investing in technology in order to improve
the production of our products.
One of the critical steps in cacao
process is harvesting. From the farmers
point of view harvesting is time-consuming
and somehow intensive in labor since pods
on a tree do not ripe at the same time and
ripeness identification needs thorough
inspection because of this. Although pods
are still suitable for harvest within 2-3
weeks and can be left on the tree, it is not
guaranteed that the pod will not turn black
causing for the beans inside the pod to rot.
On the other hand, in the same way it is
important not to harvest the pod too soon
since this time the fruit does not continue to
ripe after harvest and the beans inside will
not be ready for fermenting. Therefore, it is
a great factor to identify the fully-ripened
pods suitable for harvest to optimize the
yield of quality of cacao beans.
Rolaine Keith C. Tan
University of Southeastern
Philippines, Obrero
Campus
schmaltzickeith@gmail.com
Cacao that are harvested are
classified into several ripeness indexes. In
160 to 180 days Cacao pods are formed,
grow to maturity and ripen. One of the
Physical Indicator of the level of pod’s
maturity is the change in color, green turns
yellow, or dark – red purple to yellow or
orange [2]. As better guide according to
skilled-farmers when the cacao pod gives off
a hollow sound, cacao beans are loose, a
sure indication that the pod is fully-ripe [3].
In harvesting the pods of cacao one basic
basis in identifying its maturity level is by
color and shape inspection. However, the
visual inspection of cacao’s maturity level is
highly subjective that may sometimes
mislead the farmers in identifying whether
the Cacao is mature or not. Also, it is quite
time consuming and requires excessive load
for the farmers [4].
There have been many studies
conducted using non-destructive ways of
measurements, one of these are the acoustic
sensing [5] and the image processing [6].
Studies conducted proved that these
methods are very reliable in the
determination of fruit ripeness. Most fruit
ripeness researches by acoustic sensing used
piezoelectric sensors in testing fruits such as
melon [7] apple [8] and peach [9]
meanwhile in image processing researches
used computer vision in different fruits one
of these are banana [10] and orange [11]. In
recent years, researchers had developed
numerous algorithms for fruit grading using
computer vision through color, textural and
morphological features. [12]
The researchers limits the study into
one specific variety of cacao namely UF-18.
According to the Philippine National Seed
Industry Council (NSIC), among all the
varieties, the UF-18 cacao variety has the
longest life span of 20 years, having the
most number of beans that counts up to 41
beans per pod. The age it bears fruit is 29
months old and yields 3,110 kg/tree/year.
Based on pod description, it has a length of
19.75 cm and a width of 9.63 cm. and when
the cacao matures, its pod color turns to
orange-yellow. However, it is mildly
resistant to pod borer, dieback and pod rot
[13].
The main objective of this study is to
optimize the determination of the ripeness of
Cacao through acoustic sensing and image
processing as well as machine learning.
Specifically, the study seeks to answer the
following objectives: 1) To design and
develop a device that will be able to classify
the maturity of cacao. 2) To evaluate the
effectively of image processing in analyzing
the color and the shape of cacao. 3) To test
the accuracy of the proposed project in
classifying the maturity of cacao with the
use of image processing.
Review of Related Literature
Image processing is a procedure that
includes conversion of an image into digital
form to which operations are performed in
order to enhance or extract some of its
valuable information. It is a system which
involves image treatment using two
dimensional signals at the same time
applying the set signal processing methods
to the data.
There are three basic steps in image
processing, first is the transfer of the image
using an optical scanner or by using digital
photography, second is the critical analysis
and manipulation of the image which
comprises image enhancement and data
compression, and the detection of patterns
that are not visible to human eyes, and lastly
evaluating the result of the altered image
based on the image analysis. [14]
Digital Image Processing is the application
of image processing on digital images.
Algorithms and techniques are applied in
handling the images by using computers. All
types of data have to undergo three phases
while using digital technique the data pre-
processing, enhancement and display, and
the extraction of information. [15]
Fruit grading using image processing
is the classification of fruit based on its
physical Characteristics such as color, size,
shape, weight, specific gravity and freedom
of diseases depending upon agro climatic
conditions using computer vision. [16]
Numerous processes in the field of
fruit detection and fruit grading using image
processing have been recently developed.
The contribution of image processing in the
analyzation of the pre-harvested and post-
harvested crops drastically assisted the
sector of agriculture. Through critical
analysis image process improves control in
the quality of various agricultural products.
Even though Grading can be done
manually, it is slow, labor intensive, prone
to error and tiresome. In the application of
image processing in fruit grading, methods
were developed by the recent researchers.
The most commonly used are the
identification of color, texture and
morphological features in determining the
disease, maturity and class of the fruit.
On a review made by Nalik L. And Patel B.
[17] shows a summary of accumulated
results done by recent researchers with an
efficiency of 100% accuracy on color
detection of apples by Suresha et al. [18],
94% accuracy on color and texture detection
of Chikoo fruit by Savakar [19] and in the
study on Lemon’s size and color detection
by Khojastehnazhand et al. [20].
Hongwiangjan et al. conducted a
maturity test of pomelo based on its acoustic
response. Their classification model showed
that pomelo fruits could be classified into
immature, early-mature and late-mature
groups with an accuracy of 96.7% [22].
In the study of Adhi Harmoko
Saputro, Syifa Dzulhijjah Juansyah and
Windri Handayani, they created a Banana
(Musa sp.) Maturity Prediction System
based on Chlorophyll Content using Visible-
NIR in imaging a machine vision technology
[28]. As well as Vishes Goel, Tarun Jain,
Sahil Singhal and Silica Kole who uses
Specific Color Detection in Images using
RGB Modelling in Mat Lab [29]. Ripeness
level indication of bananas with visible and
flourescent spectral images was created by
Yuttana Intaravanne, Sarun
Sumriddetchkajorn and Jiti Nukeaw using
2D spectral analysis for banana ripeness
estimation consist of smart mobile phone,
while light sources and ultraviolet light
sources [30]. Kranti Raut and Prof. Vibha
Bora Assessment of Fruit Maturity using
Digital Image Processing An automatic
vision based system for sorting and grading
of fruit like cherry and strawberry based on
their maturity level [26]
There is also a method for detecting
and counting mature and immature fruits
from images taken with a tree by Prabira
Kumar Sethy, Shwetapadma Panda and
Nilamani Bhoi on their study On-Tree
Detection and Counting of Mature and
Immature Fruit of Carica Papaya using
Image Processing Technique. [25] Chandra
Sekhar Nandi, Bipan Tudu and Chiranjib
Koley created a Machine Vision Based
Automatic Fruit Grading System using
Fuzzy Algorithm used to sort the fruits into
four grades. [23] Jing Wang, Zhijie Xu and
Yin Liu conducted a Texture-based
Segmentation for Extracting Image Shape
Features Extracting shape characteristics.
[24]
Daniel Stanley Tan, Robert Neil
Leong, Ann Franchesca Laguna, Courtney
Anne Ngo, Angelyn Lao, Divina Amalin,
and Dionisio Alvindia A Method for
detecting and Segmenting Infected Part of
Cacao Pods Detecting and Segmenting
Infected Part of Cacao Pods [27]
In addition to image processing the
researchers include acoustic sensing for best
accuracy in Cacao’s ripeness identification.
Delan Zoe H. Arenga and Jennifer C. Dela
Cruz, stressed on their study the advantage
of using Acoustic Sensing and Machine
Learning to identify the ripeness
classification of Cocoa through Frequency-
domain analysis using Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT). [21].
Methodology
I. Instrumentation
The testing must be conducted to the Cacao
pods while it is still on the tree, data will be
gathered using the built in microphone with
active noise cancellation of an Android
smart phone and its camera for capturing
photos. A sound recorder application was
utilized to record and save the sound being
produced by tapping the cocoa pod 4 times.
The photos will capture the image of a ripe,
unripe and an infected cacao. Data gathered
are sent to the PC which will be then
processed and analyzed through Mat lab. A
visual presentation of the signal flow
diagram of the study is shown in Fig. 1

II. Data Gathering
The researchers plan to have a sample of at
least 100 cacao (ripe and unripe) for data
gathering. Both acoustic sensing and image
processing will be conducted to each of the
samples while still on tree to simulate the
harvester’s way of knocking the cacao pods.
as well as in analyzing the color and texture
of the cacao pod.
RIPE
III. Data Processing
Segmenting data from data gathering
procedure.
IV. Feature Extraction
Data analysis using MatLab.
OTSU Method is used to automatically
perform clustering-based image thresholding
[1] or, the reduction of a graylevel image to
a binary image.
K-Means Method - Kmeans clustering is an
algorithm to classify or to group the objects
based on attributes/features into K groups.
The grouping is done by minimizing the
distances between data and the
corresponding cluster centroid. The distance
that will be used here is the L 2 distance
(d(x, y) = P i (xi − yi) 2) [1].
Texture Method - Segmentation is a
commonly used term for identifying
differences between particularly interesting
and uninteresting objects as well as
distinguishing foreground from background
content [2].
Acoustic Sensing:
SVM (Support Vector Machine) classifier
tool - involves features extracted jointly
from inputs and outputs. It has excellent
performance in generalization so it can
produce high accuracy in classification for
 machine condition monitoring and
diagnosis.
V.Modelling
Training and testing data set will be
label as “ripe” or “unripe”. In this part the
accuracy and the error percentage will be
ECTED
determine to assess its performance.
VI.Output
Cacao Classification (ripe and unripe)
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