Pensacola startup aims to design drones targeting lionfish

[Judi Lynn]

JULY 09, 2017 3:02 AM

JOSEPH BAUCUM
Pensacola News Journal

PENSACOLA, FLA.
A potential game changer in the struggle to eradicate lionfish from the Gulf of Mexico is brewing in Pensacola.

Hailing from schools in the Northeast, a quartet of young engineers are underway developing drones to autonomously detect and collect lionfish at depths beyond the scope of human divers. The team, an inchoate startup called American Marine Research Company, arrived in the Florida Panhandle on June 9. It established operations at office space at 25 W. Cedar St. in downtown Pensacola.

By the end of July, the company's goal is to be able to harvest enough of the sea creatures that the business turns a profit by supplying the fish to the restaurant industry.

"We're building an artificial predator for a species that doesn't have a natural one," said Yuan Wang, 23-year-old co-founder of American Marine Research Company. "Our drones are very high precision. It's not like a trap or a net. We're confident enough in our remote operators as well as our artificial intelligence that we believe we can achieve a 95 percent hit rate."

More:
http://www.thestate.com/news/business/national-business/article160373869.html

[Duppers]

1. Brilliant

And much needed.

👍👍