Automation for Oyster Hinge Breaking System

A computer vision system was developed to automatically detect and locate the oyster hinge line, one step in shucking an oyster. The computer vision system consisted of a personal computer, a color frame grabber, a color CCD video camera with a zoom lens, two video monitor, a specially designed fixture to hold the oyster, a lighting system to illuminate the oyster and the system software. The software consisted of a combination of commercially available programs and custom designed programs developed using the Microsoft CTM . Test results showed that the image resolution was the most important variable influencing hinge detection efficiency. Whether or not the trimmed -off-flat-white surface area was dry or wet, the oyster size relative to the image size selected , and the image processing methods used all influenced the hinge locating efficiency. The best computer software and hardware combination used successfully located 97% of the oyster hinge lines tested. This efficienc was achieve using camera field of view of 1.9 by 1.5cm , a 180 by 170 pixel image window, and a dry trimmed -off oyster hinge end surface.