Robots picking mushrooms: Tackling the robotic harvest challenge
“The more you get into the mushroom industry, the more you try to solve problems and introduce innovation, the more you realise just how complicated this industry is”, commented Sean O’Connor, at the start of his presentation on 4AG Robotics.
Sean has been involved with the company for four years, and CEO for a year and a half, so considers himself relatively new to mushrooms. Although the company has been working towards a robotic mushroom harvesting system since its inception, it has not been an easy journey. Rather, one marked by numerous challenges, disappointments and false starts.
A vision for the future of mushroom harvesting
Instead of fully replacing human labour with robotics, Swiss company MycoSense is pioneering tools that enhance efficiency for human harvesters.
Co-founded by engineer and entrepreneur Stéphane Doutriaux, MycoSense focuses on growth and harvest optimisation through advanced 3D scanning, specialised sensors, and data integration.
Their standout innovation is the Spotlight, a system that shows pickers which mushrooms are ready for harvest and which mushrooms need more time. This simplifies decision-making for workers and improves accuracy of grading.
Increasing the efficiency of picking and packing with GTL technology
GTL Europe’s tilting shelf harvesting system is designed to improve the efficiency of picking by allowing pickers to see the bed and use both hands to harvest mushrooms. It also takes trimming and packing out of the growing room. The system has now been refined further, with new tools soon coming online for both brand new growing rooms and those wanting to retrofit an existing farm.
MushroomLink has written previously about GTL Europe’s tilting shelf harvesting system. The system is designed to improve the efficiency of picking by allowing pickers to see the bed and use both hands to harvest mushrooms. It also takes trimming and packing out of the growing room. The system has now been refined further, with new tools soon coming online for both brand new growing rooms and those wanting to retrofit an existing farm.
AI - Revolutionising the future of mushroom farming
Mushroom farms world over struggle with labour shortages. The work is difficult and the conditions sometimes uncomfortable. In Canada, this challenge is not a recent one with the farming industry struggling with workforce shortages for at least ten years. Thanks to the revolutionary advances in technology, automation has emerged as a very real and viable solution.
Paulette Baumgartl and Dr Jenny Ekman spoke to the team behind an intelligent solution.
Mushroom farms world over struggle with labour shortages. The work is difficult and the conditions sometimes uncomfortable. In Canada, this challenge is not a recent one with the farming industry struggling with workforce shortages for at least ten years. Thanks to the revolutionary advances in technology, automation has emerged as a very real and viable solution.
Paulette Baumgartl and Dr Jenny Ekman spoke to the team behind an intelligent solution.
Developments in mushroom harvesting
Of all horticultural industries, mushroom cultivation is the most tightly controlled. Mushroom growers are not at the mercy of the weather, crop cycles are quick, and everything from moisture to atmosphere to temperature can be tweaked to optimise quality and yield.