Research on Detection Method of Chaotian Pepper in Complex Field Environments Based on YOLOv8

The intelligent detection of chili peppers is crucial for achieving automated operations. In complex field environments, challenges such as overlapping plants, branch occlusions, and uneven lighting make detection difficult. This study conducted comparative experiments to select the optimal detection model based on YOLOv8 and further enhanced it. The model was optimized by incorporating BiFPN, LSKNet, and FasterNet modules, followed by the addition of attention and lightweight modules such as EMBC, EMSCP, DAttention, MSBlock, and Faster. Adjustments to CIoU, Inner CIoU, Inner GIoU, and inner_mpdiou loss functions and scaling factors further improved overall performance. After optimization, the YOLOv8 model achieved precision, recall, and mAP scores of 79.0%, 75.3%, and 83.2%, respectively, representing increases of 1.1, 4.3, and 1.6 percentage points over the base model. Additionally, GFLOPs were reduced by 13.6%, the model size decreased to 66.7% of the base model, and the FPS reached 301.4. This resulted in accurate and rapid detection of chili peppers in complex field environments, providing data support and experimental references for the development of intelligent picking equipment.