Innovation Spring 2026

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Now being piloted at farms across North America and Europe, 4AG’s core innovation comes from its development of a specialized Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm (SCARA), which enables precision and reliability when harvesting mushrooms at scale. Here, “compliance” is the key challenge: the idea that the devices need to apply force precisely, repeatably, and safely across thousands of biologically variable targets. “Getting there was not easy,” said Gibson, who was responsible for mechanical work on the initial prototype. “If it’s never been built, we don’t know what it’s going to look like.” For 4AG, the key challenge with mushrooms lies in consistently gripping and picking them by their slippery and rounded caps. “We tried every custom finger, soft gripper – everything we could find in the world at that time,” said Gibson. Ultimately, the company’s approach was to customize a silicone suction cup attached to the system’s actuator. After fine tuning the actuation process to provide the right amount of pressure without damaging and customizing the kinematics of their robot arm, 4AG began deploying its prototypes in farms across BC. Eventually, the SCARA system reached a key milestone of being able to harvest full mushroom beds without human intervention. Recent developments across mechatronics and electrical controls provided compact options for its prototypes, allowing 4AG to quickly develop a viable, modular product. “The ability to get all of that technology in such a small form factor wasn't achievable until about five years ago or so, where it's become reliable and achievable,” said Ken Kovacs, P.Eng., a controls electrical engineer at 4AG. “That, in combination with the integration of AI, is where I think the big technology focus is.” Extracting signals from biological noise If actuation defines how a system interacts with crops, sensing defines what the system can perceive. In agriculture, perception is inherently constrained. Plants lack centralized electrical or mechanical signaling organs, and the signals they produce are faint, distributed, and highly sensitive to environmental noise. For crops with extended growth cycles, precisely dosing fertilizer and water has become the primary automation challenge. Kim, who specializes in agricultural mechatronics and their AI applications at his SFU Additive Manufacturing Lab, has specifically been interested in the potential of developing cost effective, accurate sensors that can monitor plant health in real time.

” The ability to get all of that technology in such a small form factor wasn't achievable until about five years ago or so, where it's become reliable and achievable. That, in combination with the integration of AI, is where I think the big technology focus is. Ken Kovacs, P.Eng. Controls Electrical Engineer, 4AG

WE HAVE A NEW PARTNER!

Congratulations Brenden Trethewey

Brenden Trethewey, P.Eng. Struct.Eng., is a leader in tilt-up

concrete construction. Since joining the firm in 2005, he has played a pivotal role in advancing our technical excellence, innovation, and in-house engineering tools. Weiler Smith Bowers Consulting Structural Engineers brings over 30 years of engineering excellence, delivering pragmatic, constructability-driven designs that are clear, efficient, and architecturally conscious. We are industry leaders in tilt up construction, mixed-use commercial buildings, mid-rise mixed-use developments, high-rise towers, light industrial facilities, and complex institutional and government buildings, trusted for our technical expertise, collaborative approach, and proven performance. https://wsb-eng.com/

Innovation Spring 2026

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