PRE2015 4 Groep5

Seaweed farming

Group members

• Aniceta, N.M.F (0876672)
• Boelsums, N.M (0964376)
• Brandts, A (0895917)
• Haenen, S.R.R (0889428)
• Kuijpers, J.J.L (0838617)

Preliminary brainstorm

Benefits

• Enhances natural water ecosystem
  • Various types combats a monoculture
• Cheaper and sustainable food supply
  • For livestock (veevoer)
    • Decreases the need for deforestation
  • For humans
• Descreases the magnitude of waves
• Reduces the CO2/ increases the O2 in the water
• Zee is better than in a basin
  • Natural nutrition supply

Creating an automated robotic seaweed farm would make seaweed farming cheaper, bigger and safer, which would magnify the following benefits of seaweed farming:

-Farming in the seas is a sustainable alternative to farming on land. It does not require cultivation of the area, fertilizing with phosphorus or water.

-Seaweed can be used as livestock feed, which offers an alternative to the soy-based livestock feed. Soy farming is currently the main cause of deforestation and damages the climate. Seaweed based livestock feed would be a sustainable alternative to that.

-Seaweed can be consumed by humans. With the growing world population, seaweed can become an important factor in feeding the planet and preventing famines.

-Seaweed farms that are located nearby the shore break waves and thus increase the safety of the people living at the coasts.

There are currently several "Aquatic dead zones", there is no life to be found in these areas. No plants, plankton or fish. When a seaweed farm is introduced to such an area, it will have a positive impact on the ecosystem. The plants will generate oxygen and attrackt plankton, the plankton will attrackt fish. Image: Aquatic dead zones [1]

The seaweed farm would be collecting data about its surroundings, this data could be used to monitor pollution and the effects of climate change on the oceans. All this data could be used to protect the seas.

Proposals

• Floating robot
  • Solar panel
  • Lowering (anker-style) cutter
  • Hard to position,
    • Drifts
    • “Dijnst[dutch]”
• Rover robot
  • Stable polypoid (crab-style)
  • Hard to cut above his head
• Swimming robot
  • May become struck between the weed
  • Perfect mobility and can cut everywhere

Combination of multiple robot’s for every seafruit a suitable robot.

USE: stakeholders and benefits

• Why? => Provide a feasible feedback
• Users: Livestock farmers (veevoer), Foodbuyers
• Enterprise: Seafarmers
• Society: Reduces the shortage of food

Tasks

Logbook

Drive

USE Waterptret

Sources

• The Seas Will Save Us: How an Army of Ocean Farmers are Starting an Economic Revolution
• Handbook Seaweed Cultivation
• Maritime Robotics [32C3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iouy-vnBYA8
• World map of sea-depth; original image (slow commection), faster image.
• https://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-last-time-our-oceans-got-this-acidic-it-drove-earths-greatest-extinction[ https://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-last-time-our-oceans-got-this-acidic-it-drove-earths-greatest-extinction]
• Tools for the Design Revolution - IDRV Institute of Design Research Vienna