Development and Experimental Results of Underwater Robot for Land Aquaculture Use

Abstract

In order to support fishery industry in Iwate which was damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake, we have been developing robotic prototypes, that assist resource management, fish catching, fisheries processing or distribution. Especially, we focus on cleaning sediment such as remaining feed or feces deposited at a bottom of a rearing tank in land based aquaculture. The cleaning task is physical and economic burden for fisherman, which reaches 20-30% of a daily workload. In this paper, the concepts based on interviews to fishermen, development of an underwater robot and the experimental results at a virtual rearing tank are described.