A System for Real-Time Syringe Classification and Volume Measurement Using a Combination of Image Processing and Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a system that can read and report the volume of liquid medication present in syringes. The system is comprised of a digital webcam which is designed to communicate with a computer program developed using MATLAB. The system includes two functional modules, one supporting syringe classification, and another supporting volume measurement. Adaptive template matching was used to determine the best match point between target and template images. The connected component labeling method was used during volume measurement. An artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed using MATLAB to support the intended volume measurement functionality. The developed ANN was designed as a classifier which determines the plunger depth of the syringe and then leverages this result to calculate and derive the volume of medication inside the syringe as the final system output. Commercial Luer-lock syringes of sizes from 1 to 30 ml were used in conjunction with syringe tip caps of blue and yellow color. Tap water or aqueous dye solutions of yellow, red, and blue color simulated liquid medication in the syringe. The developed syringe classification system successfully detected and categorized all tested syringes according to their size. The best accuracy of the system was found to be 99.95% with a 3-ml syringe, while the worst accuracy was 95.82% with a 5-ml syringe. It took approximately 6 s to perform the entire task demonstrating the utility of this system to report volumes in real time. The developed system can be used across a variety of settings that routinely support measuring and handling liquids in syringes including hospitals, pharmacies, and the pharmaceutical industry.