Researchers at Oregon State University have developed an artificial intelligence system that can judge the ripeness of an avocado just by looking at it.
The program analyzes photos taken with a regular smartphone camera and determines how firm and fresh the fruit is.
The idea is simple. Instead of squeezing avocados and risking bruising them, you could one day use your phone to check whether they are ready to eat.
The technology was designed to help both shoppers and retailers make better decisions, reducing waste and saving money.
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Heavy environmental cost
Avocados are known for their nutritional benefits, but they come with a heavy environmental cost.
Each avocado has a carbon footprint about twice that of a banana and five times higher than an apple.
They require large amounts of water and fertilizer to grow, and much of the harvest ends up wasted when the fruit becomes overripe.
According to researcher Luyao Ma, who co-authored the study published in Current Research in Food Science, avocados are among the most wasted fruits in the world.
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The team’s goal was to create a tool that helps consumers and retailers know exactly when to use or sell them, keeping fewer avocados out of the trash.
A step toward reducing food waste
To build the system, researchers from Oregon State and Florida State University trained a deep learning model on more than 1,400 photos of Hass avocados.
The AI learned to recognize patterns in color, texture, and shape that reveal ripeness without damaging the fruit.
The results are promising. So far, the model can predict firmness with about 92 percent accuracy and freshness with roughly 84 percent.
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The scientists believe these numbers will improve as more data is added.
If the technology becomes widely available, it could help grocery stores decide which avocados to display first or which ones to ship nearby before they spoil.
This article is based on information from Popular Science.
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