in an aspect , a process for removing a tail end of brussels sprouts comprises separating a brussels sprout from a stack and transferring it to a longitudinal transport track . on the track , the brussels sprout is manipulated to position a longest dimension of the brussels sprout perpendicular to a direction of travel of the transport track . near an end of the track , a position and an orientation of each brussels sprout is defined by photographic detection . each brussels sprout is removed from the transport track by a gripper . a position and an orientation of the gripper are defined using the detected position and orientation of the brussels sprout to be removed . the gripper is re - oriented and moved along a knife to remove the tail end of the brussels sprout . the brussels sprout is removed from the gripper and collected .