Non-contact AI-based optical system ”speeds inspection, eliminates waste, and improves profitability”, the group says

AI agritech company Neolithics has announced the launch of Neolithics Light, an automated, portable produce inspection system.

Neolithics Light produce inspection platform

According to Neolithics, the non-destructive technology eliminates inspection waste, improves productivity, and increases the volume of saleable product, ultimately growing profits.

”Retailers, distributors, and food processors can completely eliminate manual, sample-destroying inspections using Neolithics Light,” the group stated.

The platform uses hyperspectral optics and AI frameworks to deliver previously unavailable insights including nutrition levels, Brix sweetness, project shelf-life, maturity, anomalies, and detection of different organic compound distribution both internally and externally, among many others.

“We’re going to reduce food loss and ensure food quality and safety,” said Neolithics CEO Amir Adamov. “With manual inspection, more than 8 per cent of each crop is destroyed. Thirty-five per cent of crops are lost due to transport and shelf-life issues. With the speed and accuracy of our platform, most of those losses can disappear.”

Neolithics pointed out that current manual processes require destroying as much as 5 per cent of the entire crop, with the subjective measurements almost 30 per cent inaccurate.

Furthermore, data entry reduces turnaround speed and incurs significant labour costs – even more expensive with hiring challenges in the agricultural sector.

Digitising the system reduces inspection time by 90 per cent and increases accuracy by more than 15 per cent, it noted.

Clients already utilising Neolithics Light include Granot Fresh, one of the Middle East’s largest food cooperatives, as well as leading global produce distributors, overseeing hundreds of tonnes of gross product every day.

“With long-term use of the Neolithics Light‘s produce quality analyses, retailers, distributors, and food processors can create different produce grades, charging more for higher-quality fruit and increasing their bottom lines,” continued Amir.

The Neolithics hardware delivers spectral analysis of various organic materials, while the software provides comprehensive data management for accurate grading and prediction.