A Prototype USV Designed for Maneuvering in a Crowded Oyster Farm

To sustainably meet the growing demand for seafood, marine aquaculture is necessary to avoid overfishing and other ecological damage. A team from MIT Sea Grant working with local aquaculture farmers identified oysters as a product which could significantly benefit from increasing technology in the farming process. In 2021, they developed the first Oystermaran, a robot designed for maintaining fields that use the labor-intensive method of flip-bag oyster farming. This vehicle proved the viability of the idea while revealing key limitations, especially around maneuverability. To improve the vehicle's ability to travel through the oyster array, we developed a new Oystermaran. An adjustable design allowed for on-site vehicle tuning, inset components prevented snagging, and lateral thrusters gave the vehicle side-to-side movement capability. Through testing, we identified improved nose geometry that allows the vehicle to easier enter the oyster field and travel down a line of baskets. These improvements increased the vehicle's ability to operate in the crowded conditions of an oyster field, paving the way for autonomous navigation through this difficult environment.