Using an underwater drone to shoot lasers at fish in an effort to save them sounds made up at best and incredibly dangerous at worst. But that’s exactly what the Stingray is here to do in an effort to fight sea lice infestations in fish farms.
Sea lice are naturally occurring and typically cause no problems in nature, but when fish are as tightly packed as they are in fish farms, these parasites can quickly get out of hand. Previous methods to fight sea lice have either been ineffective or harmful but the Stingray aims to change that and save over $1 billion a year in a $12 billion industry
The Stingray uses a stereo camera and software to essentially scan the fish and recognize any sea lice attached to them. Once recognized, it uses a diode laser to zap the parasite and kill it. The process is very similar to laser hair removal and sounds harmful to the fish, but it’s not. Thanks to their reflective scales, the laser simply bounces off of the fish and doesn’t cause any harm.
