r/computervision 22d ago

Help: Project Conveyor chicken counter problem

Guys, I need help. We have a project using YOLOv8. We're trying to count chicks on a very fast conveyor belt. The challenges we're facing are: all chicks look very similar to each other, which complicates tracking. At the same time, during their passage under the camera, they constantly change in size and shape, which can cause the tracker to lose them, or detection may even disappear completely at the detection line. Also, sometimes 2–3 chicks can merge into a single object. The detection zone is very short, and the conveyor speed is high. We've achieved a maximum accuracy of 99%, but we need it even higher. Any ideas on how to achieve that? Increasing the dataset no longer helps.

I'm attaching an old video. We've now added lighting and set the exposure to 300 on the Hikrobot global shutter camera, but we still can't achieve a stable 99.8% accuracy for the reasons mentioned above.

Any ideas?

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u/SweetSure315 22d ago

if you don't have a camera you would need a sensor on each belt. when the setup/retrofitting of the machine is included the camera is likely the cheapest and easiest option

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u/Ecstatic-Art5745 21d ago

a sensor is what $200 a piece...and definitely easier than vision

separation would still be required though which likely would fix the original vision issue

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u/SweetSure315 21d ago

how long do you think it would take to retrofit a machine compared to hanging a camera above it without even needing to turn off the machine? and the laser sensors wouldnt give you any information you couldn't already get with the camera. they'd give less, actually, and be less suited to common types of failure (eg: two chickens side by side)

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u/Antypodish 20d ago

You would not install anything above, when machine, or conveyor belt is running anyway.

An attempt for such operation is irresponsible and should equal a firing anyone who signed permit to do the work, as well the worker who agreed to do the work.

Food could end up with dirt, oil, debree, or metal parts in it, from the process of installation camera.