Automated mushroom harvesting system

Disclosed is an end effector for improved grasping and picking mushrooms for an automated mushroom harvesting system that mounts to a vertical mushroom rack that 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. The end effector has a helically reinforced neck and a graduated elasticity modulus, with a lower elasticity modulus in the neck and a higher elasticity in the cup to limit movement in a yaw direction. A balloon skirt with an inflatable balloon cavity is in contact with an outer surface of the neck of the end effector. When the balloon cavity is pressurized, an oscillating motion of the end effector is dampened as the end effector transfers the mushroom away from the mushroom bed.