Mycionics offers an ongoing partnership with mushroom farms, charging a picking service fee based on the quantity of mushrooms harvested that meet market quality standards. In addition to our base harvesting service, ongoing data collection allows us to provide insight into the performance of your existing growing methodologies, as well as disease detection, mushroom traceability, and ultimately, increasing yield from your existing farm infrastructure.
What equipment does your robotic harvesting system consist of?
Our patented robotic harvesting system consists of three machines that function together as one complete system:
- Harvester: Picks mushrooms
- Packer: Trims, weighs, and packs mushrooms into boxes
- Lift: Transfers the harvester between every level of the bed
Are your robotic systems compatible with my existing infrastructure? What do we need to do for these systems to work at my farm?
Our system was designed on a mushroom farm to work on the existing bed infrastructure commonly used throughout the world. We have specifically focused on simple integration and require minimal additions to your existing infrastructure. Our systems are mobile, can be moved to any bed on the farm, and can work alongside existing irrigation and manual mushroom harvesting technologies i.e., trolleys, rufflers, watering trees, compost filling systems, and more.
How many mushrooms can your robotic mushroom harvesting system harvest?
One of our systems is capable of picking, packing, and weighing mushrooms at a rate of up to 20 kg per hour. The mobility and flexibility of our systems allows you to attach multiple systems per bed, operate for 24 hours per day during any flush, and will meet or exceed the current rate of manual mushroom harvesting.
What is your pricing model? How much is this going cost?
Our goal is not to exceed current manual harvesting labour costs, but rather increase mushroom quality, food safety, and yield through an ongoing partnership between Mycionics and your farm. Upon forming a partnership, we will install our system and infrastructure at minimal costs, train your employees, and provide ongoing service, maintenance, and software updates to improve overall farm performance. Ongoing fees will be calculated based on the quantity of mushrooms harvested that meet market quality standards.
How do I use the automated harvesting system?
Our harvesting system allows the operator to specify many harvesting preferences and strategies, such as desired mushroom sizes, stem length, quality, harvesting schedule, and more. Additionally, through the means of data collection and analytics, our system can provide recommendations to match or exceed your production requirements.
Do your systems cause any visual damage or marks to the mushroom caps?
Our custom designed mushroom gripper uses cutting-edge technology which was specifically designed to avoid contact with the top of the mushroom cap, thus eliminating the risk of damage caused by palming the mushrooms. Instead, the gripper gently grasps the mushrooms at the very base of the cap, thus minimizing the chances of visible damage and bruising of the targeted mushroom and those that surround it.
Have the systems had a Workplace Risk or Food-Safety Hazard Assessment?
Yes, we have both an up-to-date SQF 9.0 Food-Safety Hazard Assessment and an up-to-date CAS-Z434 Work-Place Risk Assessment.