Abstract. Advances in automation are ongoing, but work on aquacultural robots has been limited to date. Recent work from this group has focused on various aquabots including automated surface vehicles, aerial, amphibious and hybrid vehicles and coordinated systems to advance aquaculture and environmental monitoring, safety and productivity. Aquaculture is the fastest growing protein sector in the world. Automated systems can help minimize challenges by monitoring water quality and fish health; as well as carry out various tasks such as feeding, removing mortalities and intervening based on fish behavior or other factors. Smart systems include both automated electronic systems and smart management of resources – e.g. waste treatment and value added.
Automation in aquaculture already includes many commercially available water quality sensors. These sensors can be mounted on autonomous or semi-autonomous aerial, surface and underwater vehicles to help sense water quality parameters in open (e.g. estuary, ocean) systems. They may also be used in culture systems (ponds, tanks, raceways) for diverse activities including feeding, harvest, waste and water quality management. With further development, these systems may also allow active interventions to reduce the impacts of storm events, toxicity and other environmental impacts, or to carry out biologically relevant optimizations for enhanced productivity and sustainability in aquaculture.
Optimal management of these sectors may allow increased aquacultural productivity, monitoring and enhanced safety as well as optimal focus on conservation of habitat and species. Future work should focus on smart thinking to add value; corobotics – i.e. robots providing humans with more and better information, allowing wiser decisions, resulting in more sustainable and productive aquaculture systems. Previous work, recent advances and upcoming work will be discussed.