Aqua Robotics' business idea is to provide services to the aquaculture industry to ensure that the fish cages remain clean at all times, using robots to achieve this. Digitread Connect ensures that data from the robots is collected, uploaded to the cloud, and can be displayed in applications through the digital platform KYB.

The salmon cages in which farmed salmon live can quickly accumulate growth, which is problematic for several reasons. When there’s too much growth, the salmon have reduced access to oxygen, and the cleaner fish, which are meant to eat sea lice off the salmon, stop doing their job and start eating the growth instead.

The most common way to handle the challenges of this growth has been to use service boats that high-pressure wash the cages as often as every five to seven days during the summer season, when there is the most daylight and the water is warmest.

"Some of the growth consists of cnidarians, which contain similar substances to those in jellyfish. When the nets are washed, the cnidarians are crushed into small pieces, and the resulting cloud enters the fish's gills. This is not good for fish health, and the fish also become stressed by the noise of the washing process," says Knut Molaug, CEO of Aqua Robotics.

Continuous Brushing

The principle behind the cleaning robot invented by Aqua Robotics is that it attaches to the cage's top ring and continuously brushes the entire inside of the cage, from top to bottom. This prevents any growth from taking hold. The company's business model is to offer cleaning as a service, guaranteeing clean cages to fish farmers.

Aqua Robotics' service department requires full oversight of all robots that are in operation at any given time. Whether the fish farm is on the west coast or in a fjord in northern Norway, the company must be able to monitor each cleaning robot from its headquarters in Bryne. The remote monitoring solution is provided by Digitread Connect.

Quick Implementation

The work began with a one-day workshop at Aqua Robotics. The goal was to understand the concept, product, and challenges, but also for Aqua Robotics to learn what can be done with IoT. Following this, it took two weeks to develop a working solution used by both Aqua Robotics and its customers.


Digitread Connect's solution collects data on position, depth, and battery capacity from the robots via the IT platform KYB, which also uploads the data to the cloud, enabling smooth application development.

In the application designed for Aqua Robotics' service department, they can now check the status of each robot and remotely direct the robot back to its starting position. Another application has been developed for the fish farming companies that purchase the cleaning services, allowing them to monitor the robots' operations to ensure they are performing as expected.

Remote Control of Robots

The final application is a mobile app intended for operators at the fish farms themselves. With this app, they can start, stop, and park the robot directly from their phone.

"Now we have full oversight of all robots in operation at any given time. We can easily see if anything happens, and we can also address issues immediately, even if we are far away," concludes Molaug.