Design of an automated corn kernel inspection system for machine vision

A prototype machine vision system for automatically inspecting corn kernels was designed and built. A strobe light was used to eliminate image blur due to the motion of cant kernels. Kernel singulation and the synchronization of strobe firing with the image acquisition were achieved by using optical sensors. Control circuitry was designed to enable synchronization of strobe firing to the vertical blanking period of the camera. Corn kernels of random orientation were inspected for whole versus broken percentages and err-line tests had successful classification rates of 91% and 94% for whole and broken kernels, respectively.