Method and apparatus for handling harvested root crops

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for handling harvested root crops such as potatoes. The method comprises the steps of optically imaging a bulk flow of a harvested root crop to produce image data and analysing the image data to identify discrete objects within the bulk flow. Each identified objects is categorised as either acceptable or unacceptable based on a comparison with at least one discriminator and objects classified as unacceptable are removed from the bulk flow to provide a sorted flow of the harvested root crop. The present invention also provides an apparatus for handling harvested root crops.