[/media-object] [media-body] We have 4 or 5 tanks in our laboratory. Most of them are in Professor’s room. Tanks are monitored and managed by a droid named “AQUA-tan” system. He can do feeding, tanking photos, cooling water, cooling room, manage lighting, and check temperature and pressure.
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For most maintainers of private aquarium tanks, the remote management of their tanks is a major issue to solve. For example, when the maintainer got a business trip for two weeks, what can he/she do for his/her tanks? An auto-feeder is a solution. A timered lighting is also a solution. However, such equipments only act as they scheduled. They provide neither control from the remote site nor reporting for the maintainer. All the maintainer can do are wishing these equipments are safe and have no problem. Their wishes often be destroyed with unexpected troubles.
The Aqua-tan is an integrated aquarium management system with sensors and actuators. The Aqua-tan is consisted of three units: a tank management unit, a droid unit, and a twitter front-end. A tank unit manages sensors such as temperature of waters and air, pressure, and water-level. It also controls lighting, fans, and air conditioners. A droid unit can move between tanks, takes photos of tanks from various positions and angles, and feeds all tanks with a defined schedule or as a direct order from a maintainer. A twitter front-end accepts orders for the tank and droid units in natural language. It also provides periodical information of tank status and photos. The Aqua-tan can be controlled from command-line tools.