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Viewpoint Optimization For Autonomous Strawberry Harvesting With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Jonathon J. Sather
Viewpoint Optimization For Autonomous Strawberry Harvesting With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Jonathon J. Sather
Master's Theses
Autonomous harvesting may provide a viable solution to mounting labor pressures in the United States' strawberry industry. However, due to bottlenecks in machine perception and economic viability, a profitable and commercially adopted strawberry harvesting system remains elusive. In this research, we explore the feasibility of using deep reinforcement learning to overcome these bottlenecks and develop a practical algorithm to address the sub-objective of viewpoint optimization, or the development of a control policy to direct a camera to favorable vantage points for autonomous harvesting. We evaluate the algorithm's performance in a custom, open-source simulated environment and observe affirmative results. Our trained …