Machine for the preparation of pieces of an oval or spherical fruit, such as a melon or watermelon

A machine for preparing pieces of an oval or spherical fruit, comprising:

• a first cutting station (10), predisposed for cutting a fruit (100) into round portions (101) in parallel planes;
• a second cutting station (20), provided with two or more shaped blades (21a,b,c) predisposed for cutting said round portions (101) into prismatic fragments;
• an optical detection device (41) predisposed for acquiring an image of the round portions (101) and for performing a measurement of a size of each round portion;
• a processor, predisposed for comparing the measurements with a plurality of stored size ranges, each of which is associated with a shaped blade (21a, b, c) and for sending each round portion (101) to the shaped blade (21a, b, c) associated with the size range in which the measured round portion (101) falls within;
• wherein:
• the second cutting station (20) comprises a conveyor plane (26) that is mobile with a step by step motion along a forward direction (A) wherein each step is a forward pitch;
• the processor is predisposed to count forward pitches of the conveyor plane (26) for each round portion (101);
• the machine comprising a positioning device (27), predisposed to collect the round portions (101) from the conveyor plane (26) and to deposit each round portion (101) on the shaped blade (21a,b,c) associated with the size range in which the measured round portion falls within.