Ground Plane Compensation in Identifying and Treating Plants

A farming machine for treating a plant in the field as the farming machine moves through the field, the farming machine comprising:

• a plurality of treatment mechanisms to treat the plant as the farming machine travels past the plant in the field;
• an image sensor to capture an image of the field as the farming machine moves through the field, the image data of captured images comprising pixels representing a plurality of heights and a plurality of pixel classes;
• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• classify pixels in the image based on the image data, with pixels in the image representing plants classified as plant pixels and pixels representing the field classified as ground pixels,
• determine a ground plane in the image using pixels classified as ground pixels,
• determine, for each plant pixel in the image and based on the image data, a height above the ground plane represented by the plant pixel,
• identify a plant pixel cluster as the plant;
• and
• identify the plant for treatment based on a representative height of the plant pixel cluster having a height dissimilarity relative to an aggregate height of a plurality of plant pixel clusters, with the plurality of plant pixel clusters representing other plants of the plurality of plants in the image, and
• actuating a plant treatment mechanism of the plurality of plant treatment mechanisms coupled to the farming machine to apply a treatment to the plant as the farming machine moves past the plant in the field.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

• access an image of the plurality of plants in the field, the accessed image captured as the farming machine moves past the plants in the field, and image data of the accessed image comprising pixels representing a plurality of heights and a plurality of pixel classes;
• apply a plant identification model to the image to identify the plant of the plurality of plants in the image, the plant identification module configured to:
• classify pixels in the image based on the image data, with pixels in the image representing plants classified as plant pixels and pixels representing the field classified as ground pixels,
• determine a ground plane in the image using pixels classified as ground pixels,
• determine, for each plant pixel in the image and based on the image data, a height above the ground plane represented by the plant pixel,
• identify a plant pixel cluster as the plant;
• and
• identify the plant for treatment based on a representative height of the plant pixel cluster having a height dissimilarity relative to an aggregate height of a plurality of plant pixel clusters, with the plurality of plant pixel clusters representing other plants of the plurality of plants in the image, and
• actuate a plurality of plant treatment mechanisms coupled to the farming machine to apply a treatment to the plant as the farming machine moves past the plant in the field.