Yuki Ichikawa, founder of HarvestX
Strawberries are in season from the Christmas season to spring. There is an entrepreneur who is passionate about this fruit and is working to fully automate strawberry cultivation, hoping to achieve stable production all year round. In recent years, factory production of plants is progressing worldwide in order to harvest crops that are not affected by the weather and to reduce food mileage. not exist. The reason for this is the difficulty of “pollination”. There is a method of releasing insects such as bees into the factory, but then it becomes impossible to maintain the "completely sterile condition", which is an advantage of factory cultivation. In addition, in a factory environment, bees are easily weakened by stress, and their management is also an issue. In August 2020, Yuki Ichikawa launched HarvestX as a support program of the University of Tokyo's Hongo Tech Garage. With the mission of "contributing to the shortage of agricultural human resources and the stable production of food through fully automatic cultivation", he is promoting research and development of pollination robots and is attracting attention not only from Japan but also from around the world. A 24-year-old self-proclaimed "otaku at heart", he enjoys reading manga and attending idol concerts on his days off. Why are you passionate about "fully automatic cultivation of strawberries"? We asked him about the history of the company and its business. ──What sparked your interest in “manufacturing”? Ever since I was a child, I have liked science fiction movies, and somehow I was interested in robots. Also, my mother liked "manufacturing" such as woodworking, so that was also an influence. From junior high school onwards, I began to modify electronic boards and write programs, and in high school, I decided to go down that path, calling myself a Super Science High School (SSH), which is designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and emphasizes science and mathematics education. high school)”. I was working on robot prototypes there. However, at that time, I didn't have any purpose, I just liked making things. After entering Chiba Institute of Technology, I was involved in the development of industrial products as an intern at an electronics manufacturer, and was able to experience the entire process of how products are put out into the world. At that time, I was working with a student at the University of Tokyo, and through that connection, I started going to Hongo Tech Garage. At Tech Garage, there were many people who were seriously thinking about how to use their technology to solve social issues. Seeing them made me wonder if there were any social issues that I could solve with my own robotics technology, and I began to find that exploration interesting.
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