Abstract: An automated mushroom harvesting system for mounting to a vertical mushroom rack comprises a robot having a frame mounted to a vertical carriage assembly. A SCARA arm is slidably mounted to the vertical carriage assembly by a vertical stage, operable to move the SCARA arm along a vertical mast. The SCARA arm moves the end effector in a horizontal plane for harvesting mushrooms, above the surface of the mushroom bed and into and out of the confines of the mushroom rack, and the vertical stage moves the SCARA arm in a vertical direction so as to access the mushrooms in a bed and to access mushroom beds on different levels of the vertical mushroom rack. An end effector having a helically reinforced neck and a graduated elasticity modulus, with a lower elasticity modulus in the neck and a higher elasticity in the cup, is also provided.

Abstract: An automated mushroom harvesting system for mounting to a vertical mushroom rack comprises a robot having a frame mounted to a vertical carriage assembly. A SCARA arm is slidably mounted to the vertical carriage assembly by a vertical stage, operable to move the SCARA arm along a vertical mast. The SCARA arm moves the end effector in a horizontal plane for harvesting mushrooms, above the surface of the mushroom bed and into and out of the confines of the mushroom rack, and the vertical stage moves the SCARA arm in a vertical direction so as to access the mushrooms in a bed and to access mushroom beds on different levels of the vertical mushroom rack. An end effector having a helically reinforced neck and a graduated elasticity modulus, with a lower elasticity modulus in the neck and a higher elasticity in the cup, is also provided.

Abstract: A sandwich stacker for grasping, rotating and stacking one half of a bisected sandwich on the other half. The stacker includes a half-sandwich gripper. A selectively actuable rotator is coupled to the gripper. The gripper is adapted to releasably hold a first half-sandwich of a bisected sandwich. The rotator selectively rotates the gripper about a first axis of rotation for stacking the first half-sandwich on the other half of the sandwich. The stacker is adapted to be coupled to a positioning device, such as a robotic arm. The rotator may be mounted on the stacker or on the positioning device. The first axis of rotation may be through a center of mass of the first half-sandwich when held by the gripper, or through a cut-line bisecting the bisected sandwich when the first half-sandwich is first held by the gripper.