Can machine be as intelligent as human?

A tea taster’s perception procedure by Machine vision

by

Himanka Sekhar Mondal

Junior Research Fellow

Central Scientific Instruments Organization

Sector 30; Chandigarh

India 160030
Abstract:

Leaf appearance is a critical observation when judging the quality of a tea. Just like green coffee
to a certain extent, tea tasters can judge the quality and the degree of precision in processing just by
looking at the leaf. Here is a brief description how tea tasters percept quality of tea by observing the
samples and how machine can do the same. In this writing first it is followed up how tea tasters percept
quality of tea by observing what parameters. Machine has also the ability to do those by which
properties. Image processing technique is used here mainly. Some theory of that is described and
practically how it can be applicable is described.

Artificial neural network is the key skill what can make a machine intelligent as human. Where pattern
recognition, shape matching are there. At the same time it can be learnt by self data analyzing. in this
writing the last chapter is about how artificial neural network can be used in analyzing the data and how
it helps to percept the tea grading as well.

Introduction

Tea: Judging Leaf Appearance

In China and Taiwan, the teas are sometimes named after their dried leaf appearance. In many cases,
the leaf appearance cannot tell you exactly what kind of flavor it has, but it can certainly tell you all
about the processing, and from knowledge of the processing you should be able to tell where the flavor
is coming from. According to the Tea Research and Extension station in Yangmei Taiwan, “As a matter of
fact, it is a good quality tea, as long as it looks good.” The idea behind this theory is that the people who
are judging the tea train themselves to detect flaws in appearance that parallel those in taste.

When judging a tea by leaf appearance, one must look for several things. In the dry leaf, consistency,
degree of oxidation, and roast or firing is evident. Also the skill with which the tea was handled and
sorted is evident by the shape and consistency in size. The post steeped leaf can tell you how consistant
the grading was and reveal flaws in the oxidation.

For example, things I look for in a Semi-ball type Poachong tea (the tea in the photo) are consistency in
size, shape and color. The color tells you how heavy the oxidation and roast are. Size and shape tell you
how well sorted the tea was, and also how the leaves were manipulated in the processing. In the wet
leaf(after it is steeped), I look for evenness of oxidation, color, and how intact the leaf structure remains.
A good semi-ball paochong should have very few broken particles when brewed and for the most part,
the leaves should stay intact through the duration of the steepings. If the oolong leaf shows too much
brown, this is a sign of too much oxidation and is contributing to the bitterness and astringency of the
tea.
 Judging what a tea should look like is different with each tea, and should be judged according to what
the tea manufacturer was trying to get. In the end, cupping a tea's taste is the deciding factor, but leaf
appearance helps explain how and why the tea tastes a certain way.

Image Analysis and Computer Vision:

data analysis Conclusion from

analysis

Input
image
Preprocessing Feature Segmentation Feature Classification and
Extraction Extraction description

Image analysis system

Image understanding system

Symbolic Interpretation and
representation description

A computer vision system

In computer vision system the input image is first preprocessed, which may involve restoration,
enhancement, or just proper representation of the data. then certain features are extracted for
segmentation of the image into its component-for example ,separation of different objects by extracting
there boundaries. The segmented image is fed into a classifier or an image understanding system.Image
classification maps different regions or segments into one of several objects, each identified by a label.

Image understanding system determines the relationship between different objects in a scene in order to
provide its description. For example, an image understanding system m should be able to send the report.
Image analysis technique:

Image analysis technique

Feature Extraction Segmentation Classification

Spatial features Tamp let matching Clustering

Transform features Thresholding Statistical

edge and boundaries Boundary detection Decision trees

Shape features Clustering Similarity measures

moments Quad-trees Min.spanning trees

Texture Texture matching

How can it be implemented in machine.

To find the number of particles and size wise distribution a block diagram of the proposed project is
described here. In LABVIEW virtual instrumentation the software is developed in following algorithm.

Start

Set i mage
pa th

F T
Load Sequence 0
ima ge

F T
Lea rn Sequence1
tamplet

F Search T sequence2

F T
Return
Delay

The sequences shown in the page below.

 Sequence0 Sequence1 Sequence2

Search
Learn button
Load button pressed
button pressed
pressed

Sea rch image by

Open image Search for ROI heuristi c method

Ma tch ROI data wi th

Open tamplet/ROI Sa ve ROI in gi ven pa th
gi ven ima ge data

Go to next step Anal yze all pa rameters Overla y+show output

Sa ve data in a speci fied

file pa th

The whole procedure is organized in vision assistant tool in LABVIEW.

Artificial Intelligence of Machine:

Data classification

Whilst there is no formal definition for a particular problem to be solved, it can be said that an
intelligent system engineering (ISE) is a system that can be considered to learn from and adapt to input
stimuli (Bishop, 1995). In particular they can solve the problems by applying knowledge gained from past
experiences. ISE are varied and encompass Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Fuzzy Logic (FL), Genetic
Algorithms (GAs) and hybrid approaches such as Neural-Fuzzy System (NFS) etc. some of which are
discussed here. This section presents some of the main principles of ANNs. In particular Multi Layer
Perceptron (MLP), Radial Basis Function (RBF) network, Constructive Probabilistic Neural Network
(CPNN) architectures are discussed.
An ANN is a collection of inter-connected artificial neurons. Generally, input data is presented to these
neurons, which as a collective perform a mathematical transform, generating output data as a result of
these calculations. The artificial neuron was first proposed by McCulloch and Pitts in 1943 (McCulloch,
et. al., 1943). The Artificial Neural Network model comprises of three main components: the processing
elements in which the weighted inputs are summed (Artificial Neuron, shown in Figure); translated
through some activation function f(y); and the output response of the model.

Artificial neural network mode l

Multi-layer perceptron network

The multi layer perceptron (MLP) network is a widely reported and used neural network in a number of
practical problems. It consists of an input layer of neurons, one or more hidden layers of neurons, and
an output layers. The layers of neurons are inter-connected in such a way that the outputs of one layer
are propagated to the subsequent layer. The architecture of a common MLP and illustrates the
relationships between neurons, layers and inter-connections.
 Architecture of MLP

In the MLP, each neuron performs a weighted sum of inputs and transforms it using a non-linear
activation function (For example, the most commonly used non-linear function is sigmoid function). The
MLP uses the supervised training phase as it is presented with training vectors together with the
associated targets. A MLP network learns from the input data by adjusting the weights in the network
using some specific techniques. Many different training algorithms exist that can be applied to the MLP,
but the most commonly used algorithm is error back-propagation

(Rumelhart, et. al., 1986). The purpose of this algorithm is to minimize the difference between the
generated network output and the desired output, termed as error.