Online chicken carcass volume estimation using depth imaging and 3-D reconstruction

Variability in the size of slaughtered chickens remains a longstanding challenge in the standardization of the poultry industry. To address this issue, we present a novel approach that uses volume as a grading metric for chicken carcasses. This innovative method, unexplored in existing studies, employs real-time data capture of moving chicken carcasses on a production line using Kinect v2 depth imaging and 3-D reconstruction technologies. The captured depth images are processed into point clouds followed by 3-D reconstruction. Volume is calculated from the reconstructed models using the surface integration method, and additional 2-D and 3-D features are extracted as input parameters for machine learning models. Multiple regression models were evaluated, with the bagged tree model demonstrating superior performance, achieving an R² value of 0.9988, RMSE of 5.335, and ARE of 2.125%. Furthermore, our method showed remarkable efficiency with an average processing time of less than 1.6 seconds per carcass. These results indicate that our novel approach fills a critical gap in existing automated grading methodologies by offering both accuracy and efficiency. This validates the applicability of depth imaging, 3-D reconstruction, and machine learning for estimating chicken carcass volume with high precision, thereby enabling a more comprehensive, efficient, and reliable chicken carcass grading system.