MIT Sea Grant students Beckett Devoe, a senior in artificial intelligence and decision-making, and Tony Tang, a junior in mechanical engineering, traveled to Trondheim, Norway to explore advancements in offshore aquaculture through a collaborative internship program. Funded by the National Sea Grant College Program’s Aquaculture Technologies and Education Travel Grant and supported by MIT-Scandinavia MISTI, the students joined SINTEF Ocean, one of Europe’s leading research institutions, to work on cutting-edge projects in aquaculture robotics and automation. Norway is the world’s top producer and exporter of farmed Atlantic salmon, while the United States is the largest importer. In contrast, offshore aquaculture remains in early development in the U.S., facing challenges related to environmental conditions, infrastructure, and technology. The MIT Sea Grant initiative, AquaCulture Shock, aims to bridge this gap by connecting students with real-world research in a global leader of marine innovation. At SINTEF Ocean’s Aquaculture Robotics and Autonomous Systems Laboratory, the students worked on projects that address key challenges in the industry. Devoe focused on using machine learning to optimize fish feeding, analyzing variables like fish size and water temperature to recommend precise feed amounts. This helps reduce costs—feed being the largest expense in aquaculture—while improving fish health and efficiency. Tang contributed to the simulation of an underwater vehicle-manipulator system designed to autonomously inspect and repair damaged net pens, a critical task as fish farms grow larger and more remote. Sveinung Ohrem, research manager at SINTEF Ocean, highlighted Norway’s ideal geography of sheltered fjords, which support thousands of fish farms. He emphasized the growing role of automation, noting that with thousands of robots in operation, human oversight is impractical. “You can’t have 8,000 people controlling 8,000 robots,” he said. “Autonomy is essential.” The collaboration between MIT and SINTEF Ocean began in 2023 when Dr. Eleni Kelasidi, a visiting researcher from SINTEF’s ACE-Robotic Lab, joined MIT Sea Grant. She worked with Professor Michael Triantafyllou and Professor Themistoklis Sapsis on developing autonomous underwater systems and fish-machine interaction models. Kelasidi, now a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), leads the Field Robotics Lab, which focuses on resilient robotic systems for harsh marine environments. She stressed that successful aquaculture technology must integrate biological understanding with engineering, saying, “We can’t develop solutions without understanding the living organisms involved.” The students visited Singsholmen, a large-scale salmon farm operated by SalMar, one of Norway’s top aquaculture companies. There, they saw 10 massive, deep-sea net pens, each holding up to 200,000 fish. Tang had the chance to examine the net structure firsthand, gaining insight into the physical challenges of robotic repair. Kelasidi noted that field experience is vital for understanding the true scale and complexity of aquaculture operations. “You can’t learn this from a lab or office,” she said. “It changes your perspective.” MIT Sea Grant and MISTI are now recruiting a new cohort of four students for summer internships in Norway, focusing on areas like autonomy, deep learning, simulation, and underwater robotics. Students interested in contributing to the future of sustainable offshore farming are encouraged to contact Lily Keyes at MIT Sea Grant.