Intelligent scales

German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB in Karlsruhe have developed scales for supermarkets that can determine what type of produce is placed on them.

Working on behalf of the industrial weighing company Mettler-Toledo, the researchers created the intelligent scales by building in a camera and an image processing system.

In use, the system first captures an image of the product placed on the scales with the camera. An image evaluation algorithm then compares the image with stored data and automatically identifies what type of fruit it is.

Sascha Voth, a scientist at Fraunhofer IITB, said: 'The scales recognise which fruit or vegetables are to be weighed and ask the customer to choose between only those icons that are relevant – such as tomatoes, vine-ripened tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes.' Customers then confirm the correct variety on a touch screen.

Though the scales sound straightforward enough to develop, the designers were faced with ensuring that they were tolerant to fluctuations in colour and brightness.