SINTEF ACE - RoboticLab

Affiliated PhDs and Postdocs:

Espen B. Høgstedt, PhD candidate within Artificial intelligence and computer vision for applications in fish welfare monitoring, CAIge project, NTNU, 2023-2027 (Supervisors, Rudolf Mester, Annette Stahl, Christian Schellewald, Aya Saad)

Herman Biørn Amundsen, PhD candidate within Modeling, guidance, and control for unmanned underwater vehicles operating in dynamically changing environments, CHANGE project, NTNU, 2020-2024 (Supervisors, Eleni Kelasidi, Martin Føre)

Wai Yen Chan, PhD candidate within Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator System (UVMS)for autonomous intervention operations in fish farms, EXPOSED, NTNU, 2021-2024 (Supervisors: Martin Ludvigsen, Eleni Kelasidi, Bjørn Egil Asbjørnslett, Pål Lader)

Jan Henrik Jahren,  PhD candidate within Artificial intelligence and computer vision for applications in fish welfare monitoring, RACE Fish Welfare project, NTNU, 2021-2024 (Supervisors: Annette Stahl, Christian Schellewald)

Mohit Singh, PhD candidate within the domain of Resilient robotic autonomy for underwater operations in fish farms, ResiFarm project, NTNU, 2022-2025 (Supervisors: Kostas Alexis, Eleni Kelasidi)

Marios Xanthidis, Postdoc within Resilient autonomy in underwater operations, ResiFarm project, SINTEF Ocean, 2022-2024 (Supervisors: Eleni Kelasidi, Kostas Alexis)

Qin Zhang, Postdoc within Modelling and monitoring of farmed fish for ROV operations in aquaculture net cage, CHANGE project, NTNU, 2022-2024 (Supervisors: Eleni Kelasidi, Martin Føre)

Rabea Rogge, Autonomous guidance, navigation, and control of autonomous surface vehicles operating in harsh environments, SFI Harvest, NTNU, 2020-2024 (Supervisors, Asgeir Johan Sørensen, Eleni Kelasidi)

Affiliated Master Students

• Herud Zuzanna, Deep Learning Instance Segmentation for Atlantic Salmon Biomass Estimation, ETH (2024)
• David Botta, Underwater localization and mapping for UUVs operating in fish farms, ETH (2024)
• Tiruneh Mazengia Fikru, Collision-free motion planning for operations in dynamically changing environments such as fish farms, ETH (2024)
• Thea Charlotte Andersen Brusevold, Feature-Based Stereo Vision for Estimating Distance between ROV and Net Pen in Aquaculture (2024)
• Machine Learning methods for irregularity identifications in net structures and fish utilizing stereo vision data, Emilia May O'Brien,  (2024)
• Compute vision methods for individual fish behaviour identification utilizing stereo vision data, Hanne-Grete Alvheim (2023)
• Quaternion-based 3D modeling of multi-articulated underwater robotic systems, August Sletnes Bjørlo (2023-2024)
• Underwater Autonomous Grasping of Dead Fish, Lasse Moen Guttormsen (2023-2024)
• Vision-Based Sensor System for Offshore Crane Pose Estimation, Abdulrahman Nabil Akkawi (2023-2024)

• Deep-learning algorithms for estimation of fish-population parameters from stereo vision video data, Stian Mjelde Jakobsen, CHANGE, 2022-2023 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Modeling of ROVs and underwater snake robots operating in dynamically changing environments, Marie Gjerden, CHANGE, 2022-2023 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Collision-free motion planning and control for operations in dynamically changing environments such as fish farms, Torben Olsen, CHANGE, 2022-2023 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Observer design for 6 degree-of-freedom ROV operating in fish farms in time-varying environmental disturbances, Olav Austrheim Stenså, CHANGE, 2022-2023 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Interactive control strategies for autonomous operations of underwater robots in dynamically changing environments, Vegard Ur Fjørtoft, CHANGE, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Motion planning of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) in challenging sea-cage environments using reinforcement learning, Anne Marie Mathisen, CHANGE, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• SLAM for underwater vehicles, Hogstad Bjørnar, EXPOSED, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Deep-learning algorithms for estimation of fish-population parameters from sonar- and video data, Kristoffer Chi Rong Jin, RACE Fish-Machine Interaction, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Computer vision for automating feeding mechanisms in fish farms, Stray Eivind Heldal & Thorset Jonas, CHANGE, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Smart and resilient SLAM for future autonomous aquaculture, Kay Eirik Bogen, EXPOSED, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Control of unmanned surface and subsea vehicles operating at exposed fish farms in presence of time varying environmental disturbances, Håkon Syverud Fadum, EXPOSED, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Autonomous grasping of dead fish in fish tanks using robot manipulators and computer vision, Henrik Baldishol, Autosmolt2025, 2021-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Optimal trajectory planning and adaptive control strategies for permanent resident cleaning robot operating in fish farms, Sverre Fjæra, NetClean 24/7, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Design, modeling and control of flexible robotic tools for smolt production, Oscar Nissen, Autosmolt2025, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Using visual and hydro-acoustic data to identify the interaction between unmanned underwater vehicles and fish, Man Ken Michael, RACE Fish-Machine Interaction, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Smart and resilient optical SLAM for future autonomous aquaculture, Esten Solem Dalseg and Kyrre Haugland, Artifex, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean

• Autonomous Aquaculture: interconnection of multiple interacting robots and dynamic mission replanning for unmanned operations at fish farms, Henning Karlsen, Artifex and EXPOSED, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Control of unmanned surface and subsea vehicles operating at exposed fish farms in presence of time varying environmental disturbances, Kenny Hoang Nguyen, Artifex and EXPOSED, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Guidance and navigation principles for autonomous ROV missions in an aquaculture context, Vilde Xiu Drønen, Artifex and EXPOSED, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Automatic crane operations in aquaculture, Aslak Johannes Strand, RACE Crane Operations, 2020-2021 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Automating tank operations in smolt production – A concept study for automating tank cleaning using robotic arms, Pål Hofset Skeide, Autosmolt2025, 2019-2020 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Control Strategies for Autonomous Net Cleaning Operations using Underwater Robotic System, Håvard Løvseth Seehuus, NetClean 24/7, 2019-2020  (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Robust Distance Estimation of Remotely-Operating Underwater Drones for Monitoring Applications, Waleed Azam, Artifex, 2019-2020 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Hydrodynamic Study of ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) Operations at Net-based Fish Farms, Lars Haug, Artifex, 2019-2022 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Saliency based methods for camera orientation in aquaculture, Magnus Conrad Harr, CageReporter, 2018 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Unsupervised Learning of Motion Patterns for Object Classification in Aquaculture, Øyvind Rognerud Karlstad, CageReporter, 2018 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Towards Underwater Biomass Estimation using Plenoptic Technology, Malin Kildal, CageReporter, 2017 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Stabilization of an underwater camera, Thomas Norum Ur, CageReporter, 2017 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

• Classification of fish body parts in an underwater environment, Thorbjørn Sømod, CageReporter, 2017 (NTNU, SINTEF Ocean)

Access to the project can be found in this database: NTNU Open

Research Collaborators

The SINTEF ACE-RoboticLab has active collaboration with several institutes and groups:

• NTNU AMOS - Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems, NTNU

• EXPOSED is a Centre for Research based Innovation (SFI), SINTEF

• Autonomous Robots Lab, NTNU

• Applied Underwater Robotic Laboratory - AURLab, NTNU

• Robotics and Control group at Mathematics and Cybernetics, SINTEF Digital

• Mechanical and Ocean Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

• Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Porto University 

• Machine Learning for Robotics, TU München

• Vision for Robotics Lab, ETH Zurich

• Centre for Biorobotics, Tallinn University

• University of Applied Sciences and Art Western Switzerland (HES-SO)

Industry Partnership

The SINTEF ACE-RoboticLab has various join projects and collaborations with industry partners, to name some:

• Argus Remote Systems, Maritime Robotics, Eelume, Skarv Technologies, Remora Robotics, WavEC, Clarify by SEARIS, EIDE FJORDBRUK, WAGO, FESTO, Kongsberg Maritime, Sealab, SalMar, MOWI, Sinkaberg-Hansen, Salmon Evolution, Andfjord Salmon, Nordlaks Oppdrett, Lerow, Norsk Havservice, Brimer, Scale Aquaculture, SHM Enabling Technologies, SHM Maritime, Nærøysund Aquaservice, WaterLinked, Xylem Aanderaa, Posicom, PISCADA