Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
(N/A)
ANN ARBOR,MI 48109
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 76% of the 600 fish stocks they track are either fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted. The fishing industry has been forced to turn to aquaculture, an alternative means of production. Aquaculture has been the fastest-growing source of animal protein since 1990. In 2018, global fish production reached 179 million tons, 45% of which, valued at $250 billion, came from aquaculture production. The FAO has predicted that by 2030 the global aquaculture market is projected to be more than $529 billion. Aquaculture production has increased dramatically to five times the level of production in the 1990s, while wild fish production has decreased. Compared with coastal inshore aquaculture, offshore fish farming may yield 10-100 times the fish production, and is an effective strategy to decrease pressure on wild natural resources, with lower environmental impact.However, the U.S. globally remains a relatively minor aquaculture producer, ranked 16th in 2018 on a global scale, although it is the leading global consumer of aquaculture products, importing 90% of its seafood from abroad. Blue Ocean Mariculture Inc. (HI) remains the only offshore aquaculture farm in operation in the USA. In 2020, Presidential Executive Order 13921 on seafood was signed to boost the infant US aquaculture industry. This Executive Order prioritized aquaculture development in ocean waters, especially in the U.S. exclusive economic zone. It is pivotal to develop and implement advanced technologies to accelerate domestic aquacultural production.Huge challenges exist for offshore aquaculture operations and maintenance. Preliminary research was performed by the project team by interviewing offshore fish farm industry leaders and reviewing the available literature on offshore fish farms. Among the most labor-intensive and high-risk tasks are cleaning and dead fish removal. According to Open Blue Sea Farms, Inc., humandivers are sent to fish pens to remove dead fish every day, since dead fish will attract sharks and marine mammals, and damage the fish pens. They also conduct monthly cleaning work to mitigate biofouling of the metal fencing comprising the pens. Needless to say, the offshore environment is subject to high waves and more aggressive sea creatures, which increase both the workload and danger of human divers.These challenges motivate us to develop a sustainably powered autonomous robotic system, including both an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) and an autonomous variant of a tethered remotely operated vehicle (which we term AROV), to improve the operation, maintenance, and monitoring processes and increase overall fish production at offshore fish farms.
Animal Health Component
20%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
60%
Applied
20%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Broad Goals of the Collaborative Project The United States is a minor aquaculture producer, while it is the leading global importer of fish and fishery products. The aim of this project is to develop an autonomous, ocean-powered robotic system to support offshore fish farming, which opens new possibilities for advanced technology to aid the proliferation of domestic aquaculture. To operate sustainably far offshore, the system will power itself by harvesting energy from ocean waves. An autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) will serve a dual purpose as both a mission management system and a wave energy converter. The ASV will deploy an autonomous underwater robot embodied in a tethered, omnidirectional remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which will be termed an autonomous remotely operated vehicle (AROV). The AROV will address two of the most labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks associated with the maintenance and upkeep of an offshore fish farm: persistently cleaning fish pen fencing to avoid the accumulation of biofouling, and frequently removing dead fish from the mort traps at the bottom of their pens. The ASV's novel design and energy-efficient control will permit it to harvest energy while supporting the AROV's subsea tasking. The AROV, equipped with continuum manipulators and novel sonar-based perceptual capabilities, will be uniquely capable of conserving energy while cleaning by climbing along a fish pen's fencing, minimizing its use of thrusters. The project will be executed by an experienced team with diverse expertise spanning wave energy harvesting, target tracking and control, grasping and manipulation, underwater perception and navigation, and fisheries ecology and management.Goals of the UMich - Virginia Tech TeamWhile the U Mich - Virginia Tech Team will collaborate with the teams at UVA and Stevens Institute in a synergestic manner, we will lead the research efforts on the ocean wave energy harvesting and fish farm field evaluation. Specifically, PI Lei Zuo will lead the wave energy converter design, lab test, and field demonstration, co-PI Yan Jiao will lead the fish farm field evaluaton and support the interactions with fishery industry. Senior personnel Yaling Yang will lead the wireless communication development.Objectives A novel WEC design is proposed to harvest ocean wave energy effciently, in a manner that is easily integrated with an ASV. An innovativepower takeoffis proposed to convert the wave-excited vibrations between a boat-shaped buoy and heave plate into electricity. Hydrodynamics shape optimization will be conducted to achieve high capture width ratio and low drag coefficient.Education and Outreach: ?The research will be integrated withl educational outreach activities, including the incorporation of research outcomes into graduate and undergraduate course curricula, the recruitment of a diverse array of undergraduate and K-12 students to foster interest in STEM careers, and the delivery of an annual in-water technology demonstration of the proposed system to a public audience of thousands.
Project Methods
PI Lei Zuo at U Mich: will bring the team his extensive experience in energy harvesting. He will be responsible for (1) Overseeing the project management at VT; (2) Wave energy capture design and hydrodynamics; (3) Wave energy power takeoff design; (4) Wave energy converter power management; (4) Lab evaluation at small scaled; (5) Field demonstration in the fish farm; and (6) Graduate student advising at VT.Co-PI Yan Jiao at VT: contribute her expertise in fishery ecology, marine ecosystems and aquaculture. She will be responsible for (1) Fish farm field evaluation, which include Fish 3D geometry and coefficient of friction of skin measurements, Fish behavior, population status and water quality monitoring and measurements and Effect of the autonomous robot on fish status and water quality; (2) support the interactions with industry advisory board members and support the field demonstration in the fish farm; and (3) Graduate student advising at VT.Senior Personnel (SP) Yaling Yang at VT: adds to the team her expertise in marine and wireless communication. She will be responsible for (1) developing the wireless contribution for the aquaculture robotic system with the land base, and (2) support the student advising at VT.