(Development of WISE Program to foster AI Professionals
for Marine Industries)

Report on Completion of residentship at the Yokosuka Headquarters of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) (ETO, Course of Applied Marine Biosciences)

I participated in a six-month residency programme at the Yokosuka Headquarters of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) from Monday 1 May to Thursday 31 October, a total of 45 days.

The main work involved developing a system for automatically detecting seaweed beds from aerial photographs. We developed a series of systems for extracting seaweed beds from aerial photographs using segmentation with deep learning models, and then evaluating them. We had previously used pix2pix for automatic seaweed bed detection, but we also tried using various other deep learning models for detection. In addition, in order to automate the seaweed bed detection task, we unified the entire process from data pre-processing to learning and accuracy evaluation into a single package, and prepared an environment for use along with a manual, so that everyone in the group could use it. In addition, we were given the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities, including setting up the newly introduced analysis computer, participating in business-related symposiums, developing a web application for the seaweed bed detection model, detecting organisms from ROV data, and visiting facilities.

Through this residency, I was able to hone my skills in various areas of machine learning, such as segmentation, but I also feel that I was able to gain experience in working as part of a group. In my own research up until now, I have mainly worked independently, and I have had very few opportunities to work in a team, so I feel that this experience was extremely valuable. In addition to machine learning, I also think that I was able to acquire various skills and experience in general development, including web applications, which I had no previous experience developing, and Docker, which I had no previous experience using.

I feel that I was able to gain a very rich and meaningful experience during the six-month period. Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at JAMSTEC who helped me during this residency.

(ETO, 1st year student, Course of Applied Marine Biosciences)