Artificial intelligence for sustainable world nutrition
ABB and Microsoft are getting into salmon when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainable supply chains. Norway Royal Salmon (NRS) is a leading supplier of sustainable salmon, selling around 70,000 tons of it annually. This is equivalent to one million salmon meals per day - 365 days a year.
As part of a pilot project to analyze salmon using artificial intelligence (AI), ABB and Microsoft worked with NRS to develop a solution to produce high-quality food safely and in a more environmentally friendly way. The pilot project has shown that NRS can increase the efficiency and safety of its employees, as they now do not have to work in the open sea as often. The new technology also has an impact on the carbon footprint, as fewer activities are now required and better fish husbandry is made possible. As a result, the technology contributes to cleaner seas and greater efficiency.
"Norway Royal Salmon's focus has always been on intensive research as well as development, cooperation and innovation," said Arve Olav Lervag, COO Farming, NRS. "To continuously improve sustainability and increase the safety of our employees, we have partnered with ABB and Microsoft to develop innovative solutions that help us achieve more in every way."
ABB and Microsoft have implemented remote visual object recognition technology. This enables biomass estimation and fish population counting. This technology monitors salmon growth and reduces the workload of NRS employees. At the same time, the company gains a competitive advantage by capturing important data from salmon farming.
Underwater cameras are used to capture footage of the salmon fish in their fish ponds floating in the open ocean several kilometers from shore. As the video footage is combined with artificial intelligence, the salmon can be measured and counted automatically.
Aquaculture to be revolutionized
"ABB is fully committed to a sustainable future. Here, we are using artificial intelligence to revolutionize aquaculture and deliver on that promise," said Guido Jouret, Chief Digital Officer at ABB. "ABB Ability monitors fish health and development, minimizes environmental impact and reduces operational costs. In this way, we help NRS become more competitive."
The solution is based on Microsoft Azure cloud and ABB Ability, which allows ABB to provide its extensive expertise that spans devices, edge and cloud. In this way, we give our customers better access to knowledge and allow them to better implement more projects.
"ABB, Microsoft and NRS have collaborated extremely innovatively on this project," said Christian Bucher, Global AI Specialist, Microsoft. "All project participants have consistently made a strong case for sustainable world food. It is only thanks to the innovations and solutions that the technical teams develop together with the customer that we can achieve maximum benefits. There were only a few months between the idea generation to the installation of the solution on site."
