Aquaculture field robotics: Applications, lessons learned and future prospects

Aquaculture is a big marine industry and contributes to securing global food demands. Underwater vehicles such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are commonly used for inspection, maintenance, and intervention (IMR) tasks in fish farms. However, underwater vehicle operations in aquaculture face several unique and demanding challenges, such as navigation in dynamically changing environments with time-varying sealoads and poor hydroacoustic sensor capabilities, challenges yet to be properly addressed in research. This paper will present various endeavors to address these questions and improve the overall autonomy level in aquaculture robotics, with a focus on field experiments. We will also discuss lessons learned during field trials and potential future prospects in aquaculture robotics.