Cocoa bean quality identification using a computer vision-based color and texture feature extraction

The current pressing issue in the downstream processing of cocoa beans in cocoa production is a strict quality control system. However, visually inspecting raw cocoa beans reveals the need for advanced technological solutions, especially in Industry 4.0. This paper introduces an innovative image-processing approach to extracting color and texture features to identify cocoa bean quality. Image acquisition involved capturing video with a data acquisition box device connected to a conveyor, resulting in image samples of Good-quality and Poor-quality of non-cutting cocoa beans dataset. Our methodology includes multifaceted advanced pre-processing, sharpening techniques, and comparative analysis of feature extraction methodologies using Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) and Gray Level Cooccurrence Matrix (GLCM) with correlated features. This study used 15 features with the highest correlation. Machine Learning models using Support Vector Machine (SVM) with some parameter variation value alongside an RBF kernel. Some parameters were measured to compare each approach, and the results show that pre-processing without sharpening achieves better accuracy, notably with the HSV and GLCM combination reaching 0.99 accuracy. Adequate technical lighting during data acquisition is crucial for accuracy. This study sheds light on the efficacy of image processing in cocoa bean quality identification, addressing a critical gap in industrial-scale implementation of technological solutions and advancing quality control measures in the cocoa industry.