Wauwiler Champignons AG developed an AI-supported harvesting aid called 'Spotlight' with the startup MycoSense. The process recognizes the correct mushroom size and marks it with a colored light spot. "The advantage of Spotlight is that it increases the pickers' harvesting performance by 30 percent from day one," Roland Vonarburg, CEO of Wauwiler Champignons AG, told LID. "Without the harvesting aid, it takes at least six months before a person can pick efficiently. So the intelligent harvesting system improves overall yield and profitability."
© MycoSense
The button mushrooms must not be squashed or damaged during harvesting. This is how the idea of developing a harvesting aid for the pickers came about. The startup MycoSense was founded. Today, MycoSense already produces 30 'Spotlight' devices per month and sells them all over the world. Spotlight works via 3D scanners. The device has several programs. The devices are also used for thinning during the growing season. Using artificial intelligence, it is now learning to recognize 'weak' mushrooms that have a stem that is too thin and a flat cap. "This development should be ready in March," says Vonarburg.
For more information:
www.mycosense.ch/de
www.wauwiler.ch/