Lipika Deka - Research uses AI to boost banana production

Computer scientist Dr Lipika Deka is part of a project called OPTIcut which uses artificial intelligence to boost banana production and help save wasted fruit, which costs more than a billion dollars a year.

Lipika is the co-investigator of the project which is being trialled in Costa Rica and may soon be ready to be used commercially to help banana growers to make huge savings.

The DMU-created technology has been supported by the university and funds from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) programme and higher education funding.

OPTIcut uses state of the art artificial intelligence and 3D image processing algorithms to provide optimised cutting and fruit profiles tailored to each farm.

The banana industry is worth around $25billion a year and the work by the DMU team has implications for not only Costa Rica but the world’s biggest producers in India, China and Indonesia.

Lipika, who is also the head of faculty research students in CEM, said: “There is a lot of waste when cutting bananas, it is costing more than a billion dollars every year around the world. Producers are asked to fulfil orders for supermarkets which can be very precise, and the AI is used to do image processing which can inform growers when and where to cut to maximise the yield.”

Alongside showcasing her own research, Lipika is also the head of research students for the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Media, and will be supporting them to present their work on the world stage.

“It is a great opportunity for the students and for me as an academic to grow our networks and have those conversations to be able to build the next generation of climate change experts.”