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An outline is given of a vision guidance project, completed and the product brought to market by the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, Queensland, and of carrier‐phase GPS methods at an advanced stage of experimentation. These establish an infrastructure for a small autonomous “robot farmhand”.

A robust low cost refractometer has been developed together with signal conditioning algorithms to enable sucrose content to be measured during the mechanical harvesting of the sugar cane plant. This technology will be applied to the harvester process that removes the tops of the cane to assist the harvester operator to cut the cane at the optimum cutting height.

To describe how Jaguar Cars in the UK is making use of a robot‐based intelligent adaptive metal inert gas (MIG) welding process incorporating laser diode measurement of the gap in the joint between the aluminium C‐pillars and the aluminium roof structure of its new XK sports car that is being built in the company's plant in Castle Bromwich, UK.

Describes the sensor technology that is used to guide the robot in order to undertake the MIG welding path.

The use of MIG welding in this particular application is essential if a perfect surface is to be achieved in a critical area of the car body before the aluminium body shell enters the paint shop. The introduction of MIG welding in this particularly exposed region of the car's body shell has proved to be a challenging experience for a wide range of engineers at jaguar cars in the UK, from manufacturing engineers through to process engineers and metallurgists, and others. The MIG welding of cosmetic aluminium skin panels is the result of considerable research work on the part of Jaguar engineers and the company's suppliers, as well as staff at Warwick University. This work is likely to continue in order to achieve a complete understanding of the entire production process, as well as to reduce cycle times and improve overall product performance, both to the benefit of the manufacturer and the end‐user – the customer.

It is likely that arising out of development work into new MIG welding techniques and processes, new standards will be used throughout the Ford organization, including other companies that form the Premier Automotive Group. Aston Martin, Land Rover Volvo could all benefit from the technologies developed at Jaguar Cars.

This is the first time that Jaguar Cars has used an ABB 2400‐16 robot in conjunction with a laser diode sensor to measure the true position of a seam prior to welding, allowing the robot's path to be optimised for each individual vehicle. This paper provides a unique insight into the development of a root‐based intelligent adaptive MIG welding process to produce a perfectly finished body shell.

To describe the prototype macadamia nut yield monitor.

In this paper, the machine vision‐based yield monitor for macadamia nut plantations is described. A summary of sensor fusion procedures is presented. Additionally, a summary of current testing progress is provided.

Using vision to count nuts has the potential to revolutionise yield monitoring for the macadamia industry. Additionally, using a vision sensor for in‐field location can provide a low cost, highly accurate method of positioning. Tractor (and nut) location can be determined accurate to 12 mm.

This project has culminated in the creation of a working prototype harvester. A commercial unit is in the design stage for operation in 2007 harvest season.

This paper describes the solution to a particular problem in the macadamia industry, with potential use in wider fields.

The paper draws together a range of somewhat unusual machine vision applications, with an integrating overview.

The National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture is amassing a portfolio of projects involving machine vision. These include identification of animal species, visual counting of macadamia nuts, analysis of animal behaviour and a number of quality control functions. DirectX tools have been developed and are applicable across a wide range of applications, while theory is extended in several ways.

Most of the projects are still in progress, but results are reported on the degree of success of a range of methods. Strategies and algorithms are discussed.

Vision‐based solutions are applied to a diversity of tasks. There will be a continuing stream of such problems with abundant opportunities for research.

The projects are in essence practical, although they have inspired new methodologies. They are conducted in close collaboration with the industries involved and will be deemed to have failed if the outcome is not put to commercial use.

The paper draws together a portfolio of projects, allowing an analysis to be made of the features that unite and differentiate them. It will be of interest to both researchers and those with instrumentation problems.

The intelligent interpretation of simple sensor data enables Micromice to find their way around complex mazes.