US 2021/0195853 A1 · MUSHROOM HARVESTING CONTAINER FUNNEL TRAY AND SORTING DEVICE

Abstract

The present disclosure relates generally to a container tray for harvesting a plurality of commercially cultivated button-type mushrooms. The present disclosure discusses a mushroom harvesting container tray that cannot only be used for temporarily storing the harvested (picked) mushrooms during the harvesting (picking) process, but the tray can also effectively store and retain the untrimmed mushrooms in place during trimming such that the mushroom stems may be trimmed while being housed in the tray, thereby substantially increasing the efficiency of harvesting mushrooms. For example, the tray holds the mushroom steady while a blade or other cutting mechanism simultaneously trims a plurality of mushroom stems. The present disclosure also relates to a sorting device that determines whether the mushrooms are acceptable and removes the acceptable mushrooms from the tray after the stems have been cut and simultaneously sorts the acceptable mushrooms according to their respective size, shape, color, weight and/or other feature, while also separating or rejecting the unacceptable mushrooms.

Claims47

Dependent claims

A container tray comprising:

a top side;
a bottom side;
and
a plurality of funnel-shaped receptacles, wherein each of the plurality of funnel-shaped receptacles comprises a top opening on the top side, a bottom opening on the bottoms side, and a wall extending from the top opening to the bottom opening, wherein the top opening has a size and the bottom opening has a size, wherein the size of the top opening is greater than the size of the bottom opening and wherein the wall is extends radially inward as the wall extends vertically from the top opening to the bottom opening.

1 more element

A device for individually transporting a plurality of mushrooms from a container tray, the device comprising:

a frame;
a plurality of movable suction cups coupled to and extending from the frame;
a pressure source fluidly coupled to the plurality of the movable suction cups;
a computing system comprising:
one or more processors;
and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a plurality of image signals corresponding to a plurality of images of a plurality of mushrooms within a tray;
co-register the plurality of image signals and a plurality of positions corresponding to the plurality of mushrooms within the tray;
determine a size, shape, color and/or other feature of each of the plurality of mushrooms based on the corresponding image for each of the plurality of mushrooms;
assign a category to each of the plurality of mushrooms based on the size, shape, color and/or other feature of each of the plurality of mushrooms;
determine whether each of the plurality of mushrooms is acceptable based on the category assigned to each of the plurality of mushrooms;
and
engage the movable suction cups corresponding to each of the plurality of mushrooms determined to be acceptable.

11 more elements

A device for individually transporting a plurality of mushrooms from a container tray, the device comprising:

a frame;
at least one prime mover coupled to the frame, wherein the at least one prime mover configured to move the frame;
a plurality of suction cups coupled to and extending from the frame;
a pressure source fluidly coupled to the plurality of the suction cups;
a computing system comprising:
one or more processors;
and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a plurality of image signals corresponding to a plurality of top-view images of a plurality of mushrooms within a tray;
determine a size, shape, color and/or other feature of each of the plurality of mushrooms based on the corresponding top-view image for each of the plurality of mushrooms;
assign a category to each of the plurality of mushrooms based on the size, shape, color and/or other feature of each of the plurality of mushrooms;
determine whether each of the plurality of mushrooms is acceptable based on the category assigned to each of the plurality of mushrooms;
engage the suction cups corresponding to each of the plurality of mushrooms determined to be acceptable, wherein the suction cups remove the plurality of mushrooms from the tray;
receive a plurality of image signals corresponding to a plurality of bottom-view images of a plurality of mushrooms while retained by the movable suction cups;
determine whether each of the plurality of mushrooms is acceptable based on the corresponding bottom-view image for each of the plurality of mushrooms;
and
sort each of the plurality of mushrooms based on (i) the size, shape, color and/or other feature of each of the plurality of mushrooms and (ii) a determination from the bottom-view image that the each of the plurality of mushrooms is acceptable.

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Mushroom harvesting container funnel tray and sorting device

Life of this patent

Mushroom harvesting container funnel tray and sorting device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims47