Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (SINTEF) have developed an autonomous underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for the fish farming industry.

The ROV, dubbed Mr. CageReporter, is a maintenance robot designed for fish farming — otherwise known as aquaculture, wherein aquatic animals are raised for food. According to its developers, Mr. CageReporter autonomously surveys fish health and the condition of enclosures 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In addition to monitoring the condition of fish netting to prevent fish from escaping the enclosure, Mr. CageReporter relies on an assortment of onboard sensors to monitor the environment of the enclosure, looking at factors such as oxygen, temperature and light — all of which impact overall fish health — via light, temperature and oxygen sensors.

Additionally, the ROV features an acoustics-based communications system, artificial intelligence (AI), precise 3D vision and autonomous navigation and positioning. Together this technology can offer a more detailed picture of fish health and the structural conditions of the netting and cages than what is observed by humans monitoring fish farms.

"Vehicles like this can collect useful data, making it more precise and more objective than the data we can collect as humans. Thus, the technology gives us incredibly precise and important information on, for example, the fish's health and the quality of the water in real time. That's great news for fish health and animal welfare," says researcher and project leader Eleni Kelasidi from SINTEF. "In the future, we might even be looking at completely un-manned aquaculture facilities."

For more information on the ROV, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of SINTEF and NTNU.