I. Introduction
The methodologies and results presented in this paper are directed towards robotic fruit picking. Specifically, the problem of recognizing apples in an orchard as a fruit picking machine gradually traverse the orchard is addressed. The ultimate aim is to use a pair of stereo cameras as part of the set up shown in Fig. 1 so that the manipulator can pick the apples. The manipulator is mounted on a pair of telescopic linear stages so that the robot can reach areas that are outside the width of the tractor. By lifting and lowering the loader, the height of the robot can be adjusted. As a result the cameras looking perpendicular to the direction of travel of the tractor will be able to image the trees with apples.