EQUIPMENT FOR SELECTIVE HARVESTING OF MUSHROOMS AND OTHER RELATED CROPS

摘要

The equipment (1) has been designed primarily for the selective and absolutely damage-free harvesting of mushrooms (2) from nursery beds (3). It is constructed on a mobile frame (7) which is positioned at an appropriate height above the nursery bed (3). This frame (7) is fitted with picking units (12) which are mounted on a rail system (5, 5', 5'') and controlled automatically by a programmed scanning camera (8). The harvested mushrooms (2) are also delivered automatically to the receptacles (10). The scanning camera (8) is a computer vision system. The picking units (12) remove the mushrooms (2) from the nursery beds (3) by means of a rotary suction cup system (24). The mushrooms (2) are cut to size and sorted according to cap diameter.