The robot mushroom picker is an ongoing research project at the University of Warwick in the UK. Their goal is to develop farm machinery that can reduce the labor costs of producing farm crops, in this case, mushrooms. The robot picks the mushrooms using a small suction cap on the end of its robotic arm. To tell which mushrooms to pick in tray or bed, since mushrooms mature at different times during a six to ten week period, the robot has a charged coupled camera on board. It uses the camera to tell the exact size of the mushroom and only pick the correct ones. Mushrooms grow in dark, damp places that are often inhospitable to humans. This makes the robot a perfect choice to work on a mushroom farm. The robot can only work half as fast as a human, but it doesn’t mind working in the dark, or for 24 hours a day. [16]
“There are many advantages to robotics as well as removing the high cost of labour. One is that it will do a job very repetitively and very much the same every time, so you can get some huge quality improvements in a number of areas. One of the key advantages in agriculture is that robots can work 24 hours a day - often when there’s no light, which can be a big factor with certain crops.” Dr. Ken Young; Dr. Ken Young works in the manufacturing engineering section of the University of Warwick, the Warwick Manufacturing Group. [22]
Mushroom Picking Robot
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843 Million Pounds
881 Million Dollars
305 Growers
Ave. Price $1.05 Per Pound
2600 B.C. - Egyptians held mushrooms as food for royalty.
400 B.C. - Hippocrates mentioned mushrooms as medicine.
1652 - Mushrooms cultivated as cure for boils, not for eating.
1780 - French cultivated mushrooms in underground quarries near Paris.
1866 - After the Civil War, mushrooms were grown underneath greenhouse benches by gardeners in North America.
1891 - The first book on mushrooms was published -
A Practical Treatise on Mushroom Culture for Profit and Pleasure [17]
You can learn more about mushrooms at http://www.americanmushroom.org/growingmushrooms.htm
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There are over 2500 different kinds of mushrooms. A few of the most popular are Portabellas, Shitakes, Criminis and White.
Mushrooms are a very difficult crop to grow. There is a lot of labor involved. Many mushroom farms are becoming extremely high tech. They use computerized systems and monitor all production phases.
National Agricultural Statistics Service