Design and Implementation of Control and Perception Subsystems for an Autonomous Surface Vehicle for Aquaculture

Abstract

Aquaculture offers a sustainable seafood production alternative to over fishing in today's vulnerable oceans. Ward Aquafarms LLC., a local New England seafood producer, farms oysters off the coast of Cape Cod. They grow their oysters in rigid plastic bags which must be flipped over every 7-10 days to prevent the growth and accumulation of bio-fouling which can reduce the flow of oxygen and other nutrients to the growing crop of oysters. The farm manages arrays of hundreds of bags and the arduous task of flipping each individual bag (each weighing up to 60lbs) is difficult, unpleasant, and puts workers at risk of injury. The MIT Sea Grant lab is designing an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) to automate the bag flipping process and to reduce the strain on workers. This thesis focuses on the design, implementation, and testing of the electronics and power distribution system, emergency stop safety system, a dynamics and optimization-based motor control system, and a computer vision system that detects and locates oyster baskets between the hulls of the ASV. These subsystems will enable the ASV to maneuver in its environment, to successfully interact with the oyster baskets, and to more accurately monitor its position and progress through the array.