{"id":65014,"title":"🍄 Hedgehog - Robotic mushroom farms","tagline":"Growing mushrooms \u0026 fungi for 1/3rd cost.","body":"**tl;dr** Hedgehog builds robotic farms that grow mushrooms and fungi for 1/3rd the cost. Fungi produce protein-rich foods with near-zero environmental impact. Our tech is unleashing them as our next major food source.\n\nHey everyone! We’re Jamie \u0026 Wilson, co-founders of Hedgehog.\n\n**Opportunity: Fungi - our next major food source?**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=65014\u0026key=user_uploads/995535/6274e56c-e42e-41de-97aa-a0e6bc59c109)\n\nFungi are unique crops. They transform agricultural waste (corn husks, wheat straw, etc.) into protein-rich, meaty-tasting food. And they do it without arable land, irrigation, or energy intensive lighting. With 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from food, this is an opportunity we must seize. Fungi are our chance to produce quality food at scale with near-zero environmental impact.\n\n**Problem: They’re labor intensive** \\\nUnfortunately, producing mushrooms and fungi is labor intensive, limiting their scale and affordability. For even the most sophisticated mushroom and fungi farms, labor is the vast majority of cost. They require delicate handling and careful monitoring – difficult jobs to automate.\n\n**Solution: Robots** \\\nOh yeah. Robots. We’re building robotics and AI to automate each step of production. Autonomous dexterous manipulation harvests, breaks down, and packages the mushrooms. Computer vision and low-cost sensors power decisions like when to harvest. AI optimizes \u003e60 dimensions to increase yield. Eliminating labor and increasing yield will reduce costs by 70%+.\n\n \n\n\\*\\*How you can help:\\*\\*\\\nWe aim to unleash fungi as our next major food source, making these healthy, sustainable foods affordable for anyone. If you’re interested in helping out, we’d love to meet:\n\n* A+ talent in robotics and ML\n* Mushroom growers\n\nReach out at [hello@hedgehogfoods.com](mailto:hello@hedgehogfoods.com)\n\nJamie \u0026 Wilson\\\n🦔","slug":"Guc-hedgehog-robotic-mushroom-farms","created_at":"2022-07-29T22:20:01.173Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T01:53:11.028Z","total_vote_count":272,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Guc-hedgehog-robotic-mushroom-farms","share_image_url":"//bookface-static.ycombinator.com/assets/ycdc/yc-og-image-c440a0ad1dacfb86eeeb343717479cc54d256614449b4ef719977a0a451f8bc8.png","company":{"id":26883,"name":"Hedgehog","slug":"hedgehog-2","url":"http://hedgehogfoods.com","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/cefd49e2f001817fd856853325f328d68d72bfa7.png","batch":"Summer 2022","industry":"Industrials","tags":["Robotics","Climate","Food Tech","Agriculture","AI"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/26883"}}