YOLO and SGBM Integration for Autonomous Tree Branch Detection and Depth Estimation in Radiata Pine Pruning Applications

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Lin, Yida, Xue, Bing, Zhang, Mengjie, Schofield, Sam, Green, Richard
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Lin, Yida
Xue, Bing
Zhang, Mengjie
Schofield, Sam
Green, Richard
author_facet Lin, Yida
Xue, Bing
Zhang, Mengjie
Schofield, Sam
Green, Richard
contents Manual pruning of radiata pine trees poses significant safety risks due to extreme working heights and challenging terrain. This paper presents a computer vision framework that integrates YOLO object detection with Semi-Global Block Matching (SGBM) stereo vision for autonomous drone-based pruning operations. Our system achieves precise branch detection and depth estimation using only stereo camera input, eliminating the need for expensive LiDAR sensors. Experimental evaluation demonstrates YOLO's superior performance over Mask R-CNN, achieving 82.0% mAPmask50-95 for branch segmentation. The integrated system accurately localizes branches within a 2 m operational range, with processing times under one second per frame. These results establish the feasibility of cost-effective autonomous pruning systems that enhance worker safety and operational efficiency in commercial forestry.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_05412
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle YOLO and SGBM Integration for Autonomous Tree Branch Detection and Depth Estimation in Radiata Pine Pruning Applications
Lin, Yida
Xue, Bing
Zhang, Mengjie
Schofield, Sam
Green, Richard
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Manual pruning of radiata pine trees poses significant safety risks due to extreme working heights and challenging terrain. This paper presents a computer vision framework that integrates YOLO object detection with Semi-Global Block Matching (SGBM) stereo vision for autonomous drone-based pruning operations. Our system achieves precise branch detection and depth estimation using only stereo camera input, eliminating the need for expensive LiDAR sensors. Experimental evaluation demonstrates YOLO's superior performance over Mask R-CNN, achieving 82.0% mAPmask50-95 for branch segmentation. The integrated system accurately localizes branches within a 2 m operational range, with processing times under one second per frame. These results establish the feasibility of cost-effective autonomous pruning systems that enhance worker safety and operational efficiency in commercial forestry.
title YOLO and SGBM Integration for Autonomous Tree Branch Detection and Depth Estimation in Radiata Pine Pruning Applications
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05412