From strands of hair and cigarette butts to soil clods that blend in with the product—this AI sorting machine clears away all such troublesome contaminants from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces in a single pass.

Cutting and processing (paozhi)

are often not the most challenging stages in the production of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces!

Those in the TCM decoction piece industry know well that the most significant bottleneck on the production line is never the cutting or processing phases; rather, it is the most inconspicuous step—cleaning and sorting. This fundamental procedure is precisely what hinders enterprises from scaling up and upgrading toward higher quality.

Pain Point 1

The eyes of a veteran craftsman cannot sustain an entire production line.

Manual sorting relies on human experience; however, prolonged shifts often lead to fatigue and misjudgment. Impurities such as similarly colored foreign matter, mold spots, clods of soil, fine hairs, cigarette butts, fragments of agricultural plastic film, or small stones may remain even after two or three rounds of manual screening.

Pain Point 2

Traditional color sorters cannot effectively handle traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces vary enormously in shape and material: roots and rhizomes are hard and dense, flowers and leaves are light and airy, while fruits and seeds are often coated in soil or mixed with other impurities. Conventional color sorters, when tasked with handling hundreds of such diverse varieties, often fail to deliver satisfactory results: increasing the sensitivity causes high-quality pieces to be rejected along with the impurities, while decreasing the sensitivity leads to dangerous or undesirable contaminants slipping through undetected.

Pain Point 3

Frequent material changes place an unsustainable burden on production lines.

Enterprises producing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces often manufacture hundreds of different varieties, necessitating frequent product changeovers on the same production line. This creates an extremely high demand for rapid equipment cleaning and the prevention of cross-contamination—requirements that are difficult for traditional sorting production lines to meet.

Anhui Keye AI Multi-Dimensional Intelligent Sorting Machine

Custom-Designed for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Decoction Pieces

To address these concrete pain points, Anhui Keyi has focused on the sorting of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces, developing an AI-powered, multi-dimensional intelligent sorting machine that offers precise inspection, accurate selection, broad sorting capabilities, and rapid learning.

Seeing the Finer Details

Detecting minute flaws often overlooked by the human eye

By combining multi-dimensional vision with high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging, the system accurately identifies mold spots, cigarette butts, soil clods, and tiny foreign objects—even those that closely match the color of the herbal slices themselves. This establishes a standardized assessment framework, moving beyond subjective judgments based merely on personal experience or intuition.

Precise Sorting

Accurately removes impurities without misidentifying high-quality products.

Combining a custom mechanical structure, proprietary AI algorithms from Anhui Keyi, and specialized optical lighting, the system reveals the true texture, color variations, and minute defects of materials. It detects subtle differences often imperceptible to the human eye. With multi-channel ejector valves operating in parallel and microsecond-level response times, the system ensures that high-quality herbal slices are never mistakenly rejected, while maintaining stable impurity detection—drastically reducing the need for reprocessing.

Broad Applicability

Switch Products by Changing AI Models—No Hardware Modifications Required

Capable of sorting a wide range of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction pieces—including roots, rhizomes, flowers, leaves, sliced ​​products, fruits, and seeds—the system allows for product switching simply by changing the AI ​​model. There is no need to alter hardware or production lines, saving both time and labor.

Fast Learning

50 Images, Ready for Production in 1 Hour

Supports on-device local modeling: Capture and annotate images directly on-site. With just 50 sample images, you can complete training and deployment, enabling sorting operations within one hour. All data remains local and is never transmitted externally. Includes instructional videos filmed on-site by senior engineers—new staff can get up to speed after watching just once.

It’s not just about adding another machine;

it’s about completely rethinking the production line logic.

The system features a structural upgrade centered on a "multi-product rotation" production model. It utilizes an open-architecture, modular design and incorporates waterproof components, allowing for direct high-pressure water washdown with no "dead zones" where material could accumulate. The track system can be disassembled or reassembled by a single person in just 15 minutes, facilitating rapid line clearance during product changeovers and preventing material commingling—thereby eliminating the risk of cross-contamination at the source.

Once in operation, the system can reliably remove cigarette butts, plastics, stones, and same-colored impurities—even those that are difficult for human sorters to fully eliminate—as well as critical contaminants often missed by conventional equipment. This allows for the effective control of production costs while ensuring that strict quality acceptance standards are consistently met.

From "Experience-Based Quality Control" to "Digital Quality Management"

What Anhui Keye delivers is not merely a machine, but an upgrade in quality control: shifting from a reliance on human oversight—with standards that fluctuate based on the individual—to a standardized, traceable, and digital quality management system. With consistent sorting criteria for every batch and fully auditable records, a brand’s reputation for quality is placed on a truly solid foundation.

From the challenge of "imperfect sorting" to the precision of "clear, accurate selection," AI is helping the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) decoction piece industry overcome a major hurdle. Anhui Keyi remains committed to the TCM decoction piece sector, providing robust momentum to drive the industry’s advancement toward high-end, intelligent, and eco-friendly development.