Aquabot: An open-ocean aquaculture feeding vessel proof-of-concept

With the rapid growth in population, the need for sustainably sourced food is also growing. Open-ocean aquaculture, an innovative and environmentally conscious approach to food production, is a mainly human-powered process which leads to relying heavily on optimal conditions for service and feeding. During the manual process, crew members drive boats out to the location of the farm, reach or dive into the water to attain the necessary connections and manually pull up the heavy hoses while they are fighting the currents and waves to pull them onto the boat to finish the connection process. This is a cumbersome, expensive and potentially dangerous activity. Our team designed “Aquabot,” an autonomous surface vessel (ASV) which automates docking, uses assisted autonomy for tube connection, and parallelizes the feed refill process. This allows automated connections to various pens, improving safety for the crew and increasing efficiency of feeding in time and cost. With a more automated docking and tube connection, the reliance on human workers decreases, putting fewer people in danger of the harsh conditions. Navigation and positioning of the ASV is possible through the use of April Tags for location determination. Mechanical mating is achieved through a mooring design which snugly fits with the ASV to prevent unnecessary movements in various directions. This design helps to decrease the effects of weather and swell conditions during docking and pumping activities. A proof-of-concept system was designed, fabricated and tested to validate the approach. The system worked as intended, showing that the approach is functional and construction of a field-testable version is merited. It is hoped that this new system will positively impact the growth of the open-ocean aquaculture field.