IPB Professor Invents a Smart Tool to Pick Sweet Fruit Using Smartphone Accurately and Fast
The rapid development of digital technology and internet has opened many opportunities of its application on horticultural products. Professor of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology (Fateta) Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Prof. Dr. Ir. Y Aris Purwanto, M.Sc utilize a smartphone to measure the sweetness level of apple and mango.
“The software is available in a smartphone. It is cloud-based, utilizing the internet. The procedure is easy, scan the apple or mango with the portable near infrared transmitter (NIR), and in less than 10 seconds, the result will appear. The result shows a detected sugar content of apple or mango. This technology reduces the risk of product deterioration,” he said during the Pre-Oration press conference in IPB Baranangsiang Campus, Bogor (20/9). Prof. Aris has done his Scientific Oration of Professors on Saturday (22/9) in IPB Dramaga Campus, Bogor.
NIR with a wavelength of 780-2500 nm is one of the most successful modern instrumentation techniques for calculating the chemical content of a product sample. The technology for estimating the quality of products that is non-destructive (without damaging) has been developed a lot, but it has to be done in a laboratory and takes a lot of time.
“With this tool, users can reassure that the fruits they choose are sweet (90% accuracy) fast (less than 10 seconds). This technology is very potential to be developed considering the rapid development of technology and the pressure of modern market that needs a fast and accurate quality measuring tool,” he said.
The usage of Portable NIR spectroscopy with a cloud-based smartphone is the form of the current application of technology. According to Prof. Aris, what is hard is to create the product’s quality characteristics model that will be inputted to the smartphone.
“In the future, I will try to measure the essential oil content and acid content on fruit. In Indonesia, consumers like sweet fruits but in other countries, many prefer sour fruits. It is also very possible to measure the antioxidant content on fruit,” he said.
