Advanced technologies for autonomous robotic harvesting of mushroom

根据美国国家统计局的数据，蘑菇种植行业在全球范围内每年价值超过1000亿美元 农业统计服务处。运往新鲜市场的所有类型的蘑菇目前都是由 手。采摘蘑菇的人工成本占总生产成本的30%以上。这个 人工采摘蘑菇是一个劳动密集型的过程，使该行业损失了数百万美元的收入 损失。除了采伐的直接成本外，招募和留住熟练工人用于体力 收获蘑菇也是一个真正的挑战。平均来说，一个人需要大约24个月的培训 工人成为一名专业的收割机。年临时外籍劳工计划(TFWP)的最新变化 加拿大已经将这一问题变得更加紧迫，以至于蘑菇种植者现在正在努力 获得他们需要的劳动力，并预测在可预见的未来收割机的短缺。 这项研究的目的是开发一种机器人收割解决方案，可以解决劳工的根本原因 蘑菇行业面临全面短缺，导致蘑菇产量大幅下降 生产成本，并增加加拿大在农业机器人领域的全球竞争力。

The mushroom growing industry is valued at over $100 billion per annum worldwide according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. All types of mushrooms destined for the fresh market are currently harvested by hand. The labour cost for harvesting mushrooms accounts for more than 30% of the total production cost. The manual harvesting of mushrooms is a labour intensive process and costs this industry millions in revenue losses. In addition to the direct cost of harvesting, the recruitment and retention of skilled workers for manual harvesting of mushrooms is a real challenge as well. On average, it takes about 24 months of training for a worker to become an expert harvester. Recent changes in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) in Canada have made the problem even more pressing to the point that mushroom farmers are now struggling to acquire the labour force they need and predict the shortage of harvesters for the foreseeable future. The aim of this research is to develop a robotic harvesting solution that can address the root cause of the labour shortages faced by mushroom industry across the board, contribute to a significant reduction in the mushroom production cost, and increase Canada's global competitiveness in the field of agricultural robotics.