In the waters of Xinghai Bay in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, a coastal city in northeastern China, underwater robots in the shape of a “square box” slowly sank down one by one, staging a real competition to harvest seafood. “Through human-robot collaboration, 17 targets were captured in half an hour, including 6 conches, 8 scallops, 2 starfish, and 1 oyster.” Zhang Wanhui, a member of the OureDA team from Dalian University of Technology who just finished the competition, said. From September 17 to 20, 2026, the 10th National Underwater Robotics Competition was held in Dalian, Liaoning. Thirty underwater robot teams from domestic universities, research institutes and related enterprises such as Dalian University of Technology and Dalian Maritime University participated in the competition to compete for underwater sensing detection, underwater positioning communication, and underwater intelligent operation capabilities of underwater robots in a real offshore environment. China has more than 18,000 kilometers of mainland coastline and 14,000 kilometers of island coastline, and is blessed with abundant marine resources. In recent years, China has actively promoted the construction of “blue granaries” in many places. More than 160 national marine ranches have been built, providing more possibilities for the diversified development of the “blue economy”. From seafood harvesting to underwater anchor rope salvage, to underwater ecological monitoring, the needs of marine ranching companies in their daily operations mean that the underwater robot industry has broad market prospects. China's coastal provinces are speeding up the development of application scenarios for marine underwater robots, opening up the entire “industry-university-research fund” chain, and promoting the new development of the marine ranching industry.

In the waters of Xinghai Bay in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, a coastal city in northeastern China, underwater robots in the shape of a “square box” slowly sank down one by one, staging a real competition to harvest seafood. “Through human-robot collaboration, 17 targets were captured in half an hour, including 6 conches, 8 scallops, 2 starfish, and 1 oyster.” Zhang Wanhui, a member of the OureDA team from Dalian University of Technology who just finished the competition, said. From September 17 to 20, 2026, the 10th National Underwater Robotics Competition was held in Dalian, Liaoning. Thirty underwater robot teams from domestic universities, research institutes and related enterprises such as Dalian University of Technology and Dalian Maritime University participated in the competition to compete for underwater sensing detection, underwater positioning communication, and underwater intelligent operation capabilities of underwater robots in a real offshore environment. China has more than 18,000 kilometers of mainland coastline and 14,000 kilometers of island coastline, and is blessed with abundant marine resources. In recent years, China has actively promoted the construction of “blue granaries” in many places. More than 160 national marine ranches have been built, providing more possibilities for the diversified development of the “blue economy”. From seafood harvesting to underwater anchor rope salvage, to underwater ecological monitoring, the needs of marine ranching companies in their daily operations mean that the underwater robot industry has broad market prospects. China's coastal provinces are speeding up the development of application scenarios for marine underwater robots, opening up the entire “industry-university-research fund” chain, and promoting the new development of the marine ranching industry.