Cut-edge and Stubble Detection for Auto-Steering System of Combine Harvester using Machine Vision

The objective of this study is to detect the cut-edge and the stubble lines of rice plants in the images that are captured with a camera for an auto-steering system of a head-feeding combine harvester. The scene images were acquired with the monochrome CCD camera equipped with an infrared bandpass filter at 850 nm. The camera was mounted on the combine's cab. Graphic charts that represent the distribution of the gray level values were used for detection of the cut-edge. However, the cut-edge of rice was not well detected. Next, the stubbles, the short pieces left after the crop is cut, were detected. The averages of the angle error and the offset by stubble line detection were 7.65°, and 11.4 cm, respectively. The system and algorithm can be used for combine steering in rice harvest.