Nauticus Robotics Pushes Aquanaut Mark 2 Deeper
Nauticus Robotics has announced that its flagship underwater vehicle, Aquanaut Mark 2, has reached a new depth record of 2,300 meters underwater, 240 kilometers off the coast of Louisiana.
Aquanaut is a fully electric-operated autonomous underwater vehicle, currently under testing, that images subsea structures, such as manifolds, trees and pipelines, and is capable of performing seabed scanning, leak detection, obstacle avoidance, and close visual inspection. These vehicles are untethered, which eliminates the need for topside structures and makes the project significantly more efficient and safer for humans.
The company estimates that oil and gas customers will save between 30 and 40% by using the Aquanaut.
The Aquanaut vehicle leverages Nauticus' proprietary ToolKITT software, a platform-independent solution previously tested across various subsea vehicle classes.
By harnessing the power of ToolKITT and the pioneering design of Aquanaut, Nauticus says it is spearheading the industry's shift from traditional tethered operations to augmented autonomy.
"I am pleased to report that our vehicle has reached unprecedented ultra deepwater depths without the need of a tether. Reaching this new depth is an exciting milestone, and we have obtained significant data on both Aquanaut and TooKITT from these tests – particularly regarding acoustic communication challenges in ultra deep water. Our Autonomous Solutions team will spend the necessary time to analyze the new data and apply this information to optimize performance for our ultra deep applications and across our portfolio," said Daniel Dehart, Nauticus' VP of Field Operations.