Viral Post Spotlights Shinkei's Fish Robot: Poseidon Automates Japan's Ike Jime on U.S. Fishing Boats
On November 6, a post on X pushed a Southern California startup into the spotlight. Writing about Shinkei Systems, based in El Segundo, Los Angeles County, California, poster Ole Lehmann called it "the most absurd AI startup ever." According to industry database Dealroom, the thread drew millions of views, and several tech outlets followed up on November 8.
The subject of the buzz is Poseidon, a robot the company builds for fishing boats. TechCrunch reports that Poseidon is about the size of a refrigerator and sits on deck: crew feed in fish as they come aboard, computer vision identifies the species and locates the brain, and a metal spike pierces the brain while a cut severs the gills, all within seconds. Reporting from Alaska's Cook Inlet, where fishermen used the machine this summer, put the brain target at about three millimeters.
The process automates ike jime, a Japanese technique used for centuries and traditionally performed by hand by trained fishermen at the moment of catch: the fish dies before it can thrash or suffocate, keeping stress hormones and lactic acid from flooding the meat. TechCrunch notes that a slow death of minutes to an hour dulls flavor and shortens shelf life under conventional handling, while ike jime delays decomposition enough for the flesh to be safely aged for days.
Shelf life is the company's central pitch. Shinkei says fish handled this way retain their quality two to three times longer, and co-founder and CEO Saif Khawaja told TechCrunch that a catch with a typical five-to-seven-day shelf life can stretch to 12 or 14 days. Tech outlet AI World Today notes, however, that those exact gains have not yet been widely verified by independent research.
Under Shinkei's business model, Poseidon machines go to partner fishermen free of charge, and the company buys the processed catch back at a premium over standard dock prices. The fish ships to a 16,000-square-foot plant Shinkei bought in Tacoma, Washington, where it is broken down and sold under its consumer brand, Seremoni. TechCrunch reports that Los Angeles grocery chain Erewhon sells Seremoni Grade Miso Black Cod, launched as a pilot at its Manhattan Beach location and expanding to more stores, and the company says it supplies restaurants holding a combined 50 Michelin stars.
The robot has been working U.S. boats for over a year. Semafor reported in July 2025 that Poseidon was running on three West Coast vessels, with Starlink feeding live training data. According to Alaska's Homer Independent Press in October 2026, two Cook Inlet fishermen who tried it this summer were paid $3.70 a pound for sockeye salmon against a dock price of $2.80, and both said they plan to work with Shinkei again in 2027.
Shinkei was founded in 2021 by Saif Khawaja and Reed Ginsberg, a former SpaceX engineer. According to Dealroom, the company raised a $22 million Series A in June 2025 co-led by Founders Fund and Interlagos Capital, after a $6 million seed round led by Cantos. The viral moment will fade; the machine on deck is already sailing season after season.
Source: TechCrunch
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：阿拉斯加Prince William Sound一艘围网渔船正在捕捞鲑鱼（资料图，Cart5819摄，公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons），画面渔船非Shinkei公司渔船。/ A seiner fishing for salmon in Prince William Sound, Alaska (file photo by Cart5819, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons); the vessel pictured is not a Shinkei boat.
