Comparing YOLOv8 and Mask R-CNN for instance segmentation in complex orchard environments  

作　　者：Ranjan Sapkota Dawood Ahmed Manoj Karkee 

机构地区：[1]Center for Precision&Automated Agricultural Systems,Washington State University,24106 N Bunn Rd,Prosser,99350 Washington,USA

出　　处：《Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture》2024年第3期84-99,共16页农业人工智能（英文）

基　　金：funded by the National Science Foundation and United States Department of Agriculture,National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the“AI Institute for Agriculture”Program(Award No.AWD003473).

摘　　要：Instance segmentation,an important image processing operation for automation in agriculture,is used to precisely delineate individual objects of interestwithin images,which provides foundational information for various automated or robotic tasks such as selective harvesting and precision pruning.This study compares the one-stage YOLOv8 and the two-stage Mask R-CNN machine learning models for instance segmentation under varying orchard conditions across two datasets.Dataset 1,collected in dormant season,includes images of dormant apple trees,which were used to train multi-object segmentation models delineating tree branches and trunks.Dataset 2,collected in the early growing season,includes images of apple tree canopies with green foliage and immature(green)apples(also called fruitlet),which were used to train single-object segmentation models delineating only immature green apples.The results showed that YOLOv8 performed better than Mask R-CNN,achieving good precision and near-perfect recall across both datasets at a confidence threshold of 0.5.Specifically,for Dataset 1,YOLOv8 achieved a precision of 0.90 and a recall of 0.95 for all classes.In comparison,Mask R-CNN demonstrated a precision of 0.81 and a recall of 0.81 for the samedataset.With Dataset 2,YOLOv8 achieved a precision of 0.93 and a recall of 0.97.Mask R-CNN,in this single-class scenario,achieved a precision of 0.85 and a recall of 0.88.Additionally,the inference times for YOLOv8 were 10.9 ms for multi-class segmentation(Dataset 1)and 7.8 ms for single-class segmentation(Dataset 2),compared to 15.6 ms and 12.8 ms achieved by Mask R-CNN's,respectively.These findings showYOLOv8's superior accuracy and efficiency in machine learning applications compared to two-stage models,specifically Mask-R-CNN,which suggests its suitability in developing smart and automated orchard operations,particularly when real-time applications are necessary in such cases as robotic harvesting and robotic immature green fruit thinning.

关 键 词：YOLOv8 Mask R-CNN Deep learning Machine learning AUTOMATION ROBOTICS Artificial intelligence Machine vision 

分 类 号：S66[农业科学—果树学] TP391[农业科学—园艺学]