An approach of pig weight estimation using binocular stereo system based on LabVIEW

The change of the daily weight of the pig is significant to the pig's health and process of real production. This study combined the binocular stereo vision system with the LabVIEW development platform to analyze and estimate body size and live body weight using 10 landrace aged from 14 to 25 weeks old at the end under indoor farm condition. The experimental facility was composed of data collection system, image acquisition system, and image analysis system. Data collection system including binocular camera and specially designed limitation fence was used to ensure the pig's ID recognition and image acquisition were implemented automatically. The images were acquired, saved, and processed by the other two systems to analysis the relationship between body weight and body size. Images acquired by binocular cameras were segmented by the depth threshold. The system verified that the body length (BL) and withers height (WH) were estimated with the R-2 ranged from 0.91 to 0.98. The back area and the body weight data obtained by a ground scale were fitted into linear model. According to the result of regression by least square method, the parameters of the function were calculated. Results revealed that live body weight was closely related to the sum of pixel values (SPV) which was calculated from the reconstructed image. Coefficient of determination R-2 value was as high as 0.9931. It meant this procedure performed well in predicting live weight. The whole automatic systems have the potential to be applied in the real farm environment. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.