Apple Shape and Rolling Orientation

The ability to orient fruit is needed to fully utilize the capabilities of many commercial sorters for defect and shapedetection and general quality sensing. Five apple cultivars, representing a range of shape and size, were observed for theirability to orient (stem-calyx axis horizontal and perpendicular to the direction of travel) or remain oriented, depending ontheir starting position, as they were rolled by a mechanically driven flat paddle up a flat, padded incline between two fixedparallel rails. Apples did not orient particularly well on the apparatus, on average rolled 66.0 cm before orienting and rolledonly 70.5 cm before becoming unoriented. Various size and shape parameters were measured and correlated with the distanceapples rolled to orient and the distance that the apples remained oriented. Generally, elongation parameters were better thantaper or symmetry parameters as predictors of an apples ability to orient or remain oriented. Elongated cultivars of apples,Red Delicious and Fuji (Washington), Braeburn (New Zealand), and Granny Smith (South Africa), oriented or remainedoriented better than Rome and Red Delicious (West Virginia).