The project aims to introduce innovative technologies into the production chain of traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena PDO. The purpose is to streamline the work of operators and guarantee complete traceability and reproducibility of the product characteristics.

In particular, the idea is to introduce a control over the aging phase using sensors. The detected data, processed with AI-based methods – capable of preventively evaluating the evolution of the product in the aging barrels – will be used to optimize the decanting and topping up phases that are carried out annually.

A system will thereby be developed consisting of a software and a liquid level sensor to be put inside the barrels of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. The data recorded at the variation of the outside temperature and the content of the barrels, together with historical data, will train a model based on machine learning and AI, which can predict annual evaporation. The model will be the heart of a software capable of suggesting the optimal picking and decanting quantities to obtain the desired physical characteristics of the product, and to guarantee traceability.

Mater is a project financed under the “PSR Call 16.2.01 – Support for pilot projects and for the development of new products, practices, processes and technologies in the agricultural and agro-industrial sector”.