Simulation-Based Multi-Fillet Evaluation of Woody Breast Poultry Fillets

2026-06-15

AI Summary

This study addresses the throughput limitations of conventional side-view imaging systems, which inspect wooden breast chicken fillets one at a time. To overcome this bottleneck, the authors propose a top-view, multi-fillet simultaneous inspection framework that leverages a high-fidelity digital twin system integrating 3D fillet mesh generation and viscoelastic physical simulation. This approach emulates fillet bending behavior and extracts continuous two-dimensional deformation scores to quantify the degree of woody breast condition. For the first time, the method enables parallel, inline quality assessment of multiple fillets from a top-down perspective, surpassing the constraints of single-fillet inspection. The proposed deformation score effectively captures dynamic contour changes and demonstrates robust identification capability for woody breast fillets within the simulated environment.

Abstract

Woody breast (WB) is a myopathy in modern broiler chickens that causes the breast muscle to become unusually stiff and fibrous, leading to decreased meat quality and significant economic losses. State-of-the-art automated WB detection relies on a side-view imaging system to analyze the bending behavior of a single fillet as it falls off a conveyor belt. While highly accurate, this approach is constrained by its single-fillet field of view, creating throughput bottlenecks on commercial processing lines. In this paper, we address this limitation via a novel multi-fillet detection architecture utilizing a top-down camera configuration. To validate our approach, we first develop a high-fidelity digital twin of an industrial conveyor system. Next, we synthesize a diverse dataset of 3D fillet meshes and model their viscoelastic bending dynamics using a physics-based simulation engine. Lastly, a continuous 2D shape deformation score is extracted from the top-down perspective as the simulated fillets traverse the roller precipice. Experimental results demonstrate that the top-down shape score effectively captures the contour changes of the fillets as it bends, providing a robust and scalable alternative to a side-view imaging system for simultaneous multi-fillet WB evaluation.

Problem

• Woody Breast
• multi-fillet detection
• throughput bottleneck
• automated meat quality evaluation
• poultry processing

Innovation

• multi-fillet detection
• top-down imaging
• digital twin
• physics-based simulation
• viscoelastic deformation