Development of a Small Size Underwater Robot for Observing Fisheries Resources – Underwater Robot for Assisting Abalone Fishing –

Abstract

[abstFig src='/00280003/16.jpg' width=""155"" text='Overview of a small size underwater robot' ] In abalone fishing with spearing, size of abalone which was allowed to catch is strictly controlled in Japanese law. Therefore, fisherman usually judge size by observing from a boat. However, this is difficult, due to aging. Therefore, we have been developing an underwater robot to assist fisherman in determining abalone size by using a stereo camera. The robot is small size and uses 6 thrusters to achieve 5 DOF motion in an underwater environment.