Slim-sugarcane: a lightweight and high-precision method for sugarcane node detection and edge deployment in natural environments

Accurate detection of sugarcane nodes in complex field environments is a critical prerequisite for intelligent seed cutting and automated planting. However, existing detection methods often suffer from large model sizes and suboptimal performance, limiting their applicability on resource-constrained edge devices. To address these challenges, we propose Slim-Sugarcane, a lightweight and high-precision node detection framework optimized for real-time deployment in natural agricultural settings. Built upon YOLOv8, our model integrates GSConv, a hybrid convolution module combining group and spatial convolutions, to significantly reduce computational overhead while maintaining detection accuracy. We further introduce a Cross-Stage Local Network module featuring a single-stage aggregation strategy, which effectively minimizes structural redundancy and enhances feature representation. The proposed framework is optimized with TensorRT and deployed using FP16 quantization on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX platform to ensure real-time performance under limited hardware conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that Slim-Sugarcane achieves a precision of 0.922, recall of 0.802, and mean average precision of 0.852, with an inference latency of only 60.1 ms and a GPU memory footprint of 1434 MB. The proposed method exhibits superior accuracy and computational efficiency compared to existing approaches, offering a promising solution for precision agriculture and intelligent sugarcane cultivation.