A joint development project by Associate Professor Yasunori Nihei at Marine System Engineering of the Graduate School of Engineering (Director of the Center for Aquaculture Initiatives), Osaka Prefecture University, Nippon Kaiko Co., Ltd., the National Institute for Environmental Studies, and Tokyo Kyuei Co., Ltd. has been selected for the Strategic Core Technology Advancement Program (Supporting Industry Program) for the FY2020 budget by the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency.

About Strategic Core Technology Advancement Program (Supporting Industry Program)

As part of support measures under the Act for the Sophistication of Basic Manufacturing Technology of Small and Medium Enterprises, the program is aimed at promoting activities by primarily small and medium sized enterprises, including research and development, prototype development, and market development, which are carried out to advance core manufacturing technology through, for example, industry-academia-government collaboration.

Project outline

“Robosen” aquatic drone

In fish culturing that requires high-level water quality control, a decrease in the salt concentration in the sea and the occurrence of red tides are critical issues. To prevent these events from causing damage to shellfish, other fish, and algae, it is required in fish culturing to predict water quality beforehand by performing precise water quality measurements in the nursery.

In this project, the performance of the “Robosen” aquatic drone, a four-body type automatic navigation ship the patent for which Osaka Prefecture University owns, is further enhanced, and water quality big data obtained by the Robosen are used to run a higher-level simulation of water quality. In addition, AI technology is introduced to develop a new water quality prediction system that can be operated on a commercially available personal computer. Combining the water quality prediction system with water quality big data obtained by the Robosen will contribute to the sustainable growth of fish culturing.

Contribution to the SDGs

11: Sustainable cities and communities
13: Climate action
14: Life below water
17: Partnerships for the goals