Abstract
Motion planning is among the most fundamental problems any autonomous system should solve in order to execute tasks safely. Despite recent advancements in robotics enabling the introduction of mobile robots in industrial settings, autonomous operations in the underwater domain remains a challenging problem. This is particularly true in industrial aquaculture settings, where autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are expected to operate in environments with lack of static reference, deformable moving obstacles, uncertainty, disturbances from ocean waves, and currents. From a motion planning perspective, the goal of this work is to illuminate the unique combination of problems limiting aquaculture automation, identify minimum necessary requirements, and mention recent developments towards mitigating some of these challenges to improve efficiency and safety. Finally, future prospects and research directions are included towards realizing autonomous systems in the challenging domain of aquaculture robotics and automation.
