Development of an Underwater Robotic Tool for Fish-Farm Net Repair
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17979/ja-cea.2026.47.13817Keywords:
aquaculture, BlueROV2, Mechanical Design, Manipulation tools, ROS2Abstract
Autonomous inspection and repair of aquaculture nets remains an important challenge in modern fish farming, as undetected structural damage can lead to fish escapes, economic losses, and environmental impacts. Although ROVs and advances in computer vision have improved defect detection, physical repair is still limited by patching systems with low adaptability and predefined geometries. This work
presents the initial design of a new underwater end-effector for repairing tears in aquaculture nets using zip-ties, mounted on a low-cost BlueROV2 platform. The mechanism combines a Newton gripper and a SER2020 servomotor to enable coordinated underwater manipulation. Preliminary results show successful placement and closure of the zip-tie on damaged nets, validating the feasibility of the approach. Future
validation will be carried out in the CIRTESU tank using real nets under semi-realistic underwater conditions.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Francesco Boldrini, Salvador López-Barajas, Alejandro Solis, Inés Pérez-Edo, Andrea Pino, Raúl Marín, Antonio Visioli, Pedro J. Sanz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
