Economic Watch: AI reshapes China's blue economy with innovative tech applications

JINAN, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Deep beneath the ocean surface, a box-shaped robot extended a mechanical arm and delivered a lethal injection to a crown-of-thorns starfish. Through this successful action, a robotic "guardian" completed its mission to neutralize one of the coral reef's deadliest enemies.

This undersea "assassin" is the work of an innovative Chinese tech start-up. Developed by Qingdao Robotfish Marine Technology Co., Ltd. (ROBOTFISH), based in the coastal city of Qingdao in east China's Shandong Province, the so-called "starfish injection robot" is designed to protect vulnerable coral reefs from the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish.

The robot operates deftly at depths of up to 150 meters and can accurately locate its target even in murky waters. It detects starfish attached to coral reefs from as far as 10 meters away, precisely raises its robotic arm, and then thrusts the syringe at the end of the arm into the starfish, achieving centimeter-level accuracy.

This robot serves as a vivid illustration of how artificial intelligence (AI) is integrated into China's marine sphere and how it reshapes everyday operations across fisheries, port management and marine conservation.

The crown-of-thorns starfish nemesis, alongside the company's other underwater robots and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, has been applied in several oceanic ecological restoration and surveillance projects across China, ranging from monitoring tropical marine ranches off Wuzhizhou Island near south China's Sanya to collecting full-cycle data in Laizhou Bay in Shandong.

"The original aspiration of establishing our company is to create robots that can move freely in the sea just like fish do," said Fan Ping, technical director of ROBOTFISH. The company's fleet also features robots designed for inspecting the foundations of offshore oil platforms and cage-net cleansing robots, among others.

These cutting-edge innovations are just a few examples of the many applications of AI in modern marine fisheries, which are widespread and already generating significant financial returns.

Roughly 80 kilometers off the coast of Yantai, another coastal hub in Shandong, an intelligent cage platform named Jinghai 005 rises from the open sea. With a simple tap on a screen, platform manager Liu Yulei clicks open a live video feed sent by underwater video and sensor devices, monitoring the growth of over a million fish swimming 30 meters under the ocean surface.

Operated by just two engineers, this smart platform uses an integrated digital system to remotely manage its entire stock of Sebastes schlegelii, also known as rockfish, enabling an annual harvest of up to 1,000 tonnes.

Liu explained that the intelligent deep-sea cage system allows workers to easily determine the scope and duration of feed distribution by tracking fish movements via underwater cameras.

In addition to intelligent cages like Jinghai 005, Yantai Bajiaowan Marine Technology Co., Ltd. has deployed another 42 deep-water aquaculture cages off Yantai, each equipped with a suite of monitoring technologies ranging from buoy sensors, video surveillance, Automatic Identification System (AIS) anti-collision and radar control systems. They provide full visibility covering the entire operation, ensuring precise control throughout the production process.

At ports, AI is also playing a prominent role. A world-leading form of automated ship loading and unloading technology has been created and pioneered at a section of the Yantai Port, boosting the comprehensive handling efficiency of this section by approximately 20 percent.

"AI, having been integrated into the entire matrix of the marine industry, spanning from coastal to deep-sea operations, supercharges the marine economy toward high-quality development, with key breakthroughs achieved in sectors such as deep-sea exploration robotics," noted Liu Shuguang, professor at the School of Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao. ■