Researchers in Norway test using underwater robots with fin-like flaps to guard fish farms

Researchers in Norway are testing how salmon in a commercial fish farm might react to being regularly monitored by an underwater robots. While fish farms are typically uneventful environments, they still require oversight to ensure the captive fish are safe and healthy, a task most commercial fish farms assign to a human diver. Maarja Kruusmaa and a team of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology wanted to test how fish would respond to being watched over by robots instead of people. 'The happier the fish are, the healthier the fish are, the better they eat, the better they grow, the less parasites they have and the less they get sick,' Kruusmaa told New Scientist. The team used two different underwater robots to test whether the fish would react differently based on the size and propulsion method.