Automated Detection and Sizing of Immature Green Apples in Commercial Orchards using YOLOv8 and 3D Shape Fitting Techniques

Accurate detection and sizing of immature green apples during early growth stages is crucial for yield prediction, pest management, and crop-load management in commercial orchards. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using the state-of-the-art YOLOv8 object detection and instance segmentation algorithm combined with 3D shape fitting techniques to efficiently determine the size of immature green apples in a real-world orchard environment.