Shape and colour recognition of dishes for the purpose of customer service process automation in a self-service canteen

In the article a vision system for shape and colour recognition of dishes (plates, bowls, mugs), which can be used to automate the process of customer service in a self-service canteen is described. In consists of three basic components: object segmentation using so-called background model subtraction, shape recognition using geometric invariant moments and SVM classifier, as well as colour recognition using a Gaussian model. In addition, recognition in case of close or abut objects using a distance transform like approach is presented. The solution was evaluated on a dedicated test stand with controlled LED lightning. A 98% accuracy was obtained on over 100 test images, which indicates that the solution could be used in business practise.