Engineering Students Invent Device to Precisely Test the Ripeness of Avocados

Do you thump or squeeze avocados in the grocery store to test their freshness? Students at Harvard University have developed a more precise method that examines the fruit chemically. The Harvard Gazette reports:

The device they developed incorporates sensors to measure certain chemical properties of an avocado.

Information from these sensors is incorporated into a machine-learning model the students developed to predict when an avocado will be ripe. The model’s output is displayed through an app that shows the estimated date of ripeness and the number of days until each tested avocado will be ripe for.

-via Marginal Revolution | Photo: SEAS Communications