A team of engineers at the University of Maryland is bringing shellfish farming into the future.
A $10 million dollar grant from USDA is helping the team build robots to streamline oyster production and harvest. Traditional tools slow down both processes.
Engineers say that the new technology could produce more with less time, all while protecting the environment.
According to Miao Yu, a Mechanical Engineering Professor with the university, “The information obtained by using the monitoring system will help farmers understand how to plant the young oysters more precisely. So, this will help reduce losses due to seed mortality and therefore increase farm productivity.”
Oyster farmers can also map out and monitor their crop inventory.