Student Teams From 16 Countries Descend on Newfoundland for the 2026 MATE World Championship
and under-ice environments. Together, these facilities create an authentic, industry-aligned competition setting that reinforces the technical rigor and real-world relevance of the MATE ROV Competition. Teams will map and document cold-water coral ecosystems, deploy and service subsea monitoring technologies, support offshore energy systems, and conduct under-ice data collection. In addition to in-water performance, the competition requires teams to operate as start-up companies, developing technical documentation, managing budgets, presenting marketing displays, and delivering engineering presentations
Hydromea, FAU Receive AUKUS Grant
the US, UK, and Australia.Despite hosting the world's most critical infrastructure, like subsea energy pipelines, transcontinental data cables, and defense sensor networks, the ocean remains strikingly data-poor. Real-time wireless data exchange at depth is practically impossible with conventional technologies: radio waves and GPS do not penetrate seawater, and acoustic systems offer severely limited bandwidth. Vast volumes of sensor data sit stranded on the seabed, inaccessible unless a vessel physically retrieves them.The joint FAU-Hydromea platform integrates two complementary technologies: long-range
Autonomous Vehicles Solve (and Create) Problems for Ports
visual evidence of the attack, with associated AI possibly identifying and guiding the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to its target.The value of AI is evidenced by the many technology partnerships that are forming between platform, software and sensor creators. Late last year, Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) announced a partnership with Mythos AI to integrate AI-driven autonomy software across OPT’s fleet of WAM-V autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs). These vehicles leverage real-time edge processing, multi-sensor fusion and adaptive learning for enhanced situational awareness, obstacle
NORBIT Acquires Water Linked
NORBIT has acquired Trondheim-based Water Linked, a specialist in underwater navigation and imaging technologies for ROVs, AUVs and uncrewed surface vessels.Founded in 2013, Water Linked has developed a strong position in the subsea technology market with products including Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs), 3D imaging sonars, acoustic positioning systems and underwater communication solutions. These technologies enable navigation, perception and autonomy in GPS-denied environments and are widely used in subsea inspection, offshore energy, marine research, defense and underwater infrastructure applications.
Breaking the Ice on Arctic Research
months preparing and developing these systems, and to help them integrate everything aboard the ship."Mobilization period. Credit: Amundsen ScienceMobilization period. Credit: Amundsen ScienceASTRIDOne of the key pieces of technology aboard the Amundsen is ASTRID, an ROV made by Forum Energy Technologies. Weighing about 1.5 tons, it's currently configured to go to 1500 meters of depth and explore for more than 250 hours."One of the cool things about this ROV is that it's got a very small footprint, which means that we can put it on various vessels, including small ones. The winch
Eni, Fincantieri to Advance Underwater Monitoring Technologies
Eni S.p.A and Fincantieri, through its subsidiary IDS – Ingegneria dei Sistemi, a company specialized in the development of unmanned systems for the underwater market and related command-and-control systems and in the industrialization of advanced sensors and radar technologies, announce the signing of a strategic agreement concerning Clean Sea, Eni’s proprietary technology. Clean Sea is the underwater robotic system developed by Eni and designed for monitoring marine ecosystems and subsea infrastructure, including the verification of their in-service integrity.The agreement grants IDS an
Digging Deeper: Challenges and Trends in the Dredging Industry
minimize over-dredging, reduce fuel consumption, and meet strict regulatory requirements, while still maintaining production targets,” added experts from HYPACK. “At the same time, many projects involve complex environments and require integrating data from multiple systems.”Although technologies are available to increase situational awareness while dredging, and to complete work faster and more efficiently—without jeopardizing safety—Nash feels that the industry is still behind. “It is a known fact that the construction industry has historically been a laggard in the
Battery Breakthrough: Mining Batteries, in a Microwave
to refine the process, including improving the ion exchange and studying the economics of the approach. Still, the early results suggest old batteries could become more than waste. With further development, they could become a valuable domestic resource for the next generation of energy storage technologies. The research was funded by Sandia’s LDRD program. The technology development was supported by the Energy I-Corps program.Source: Sandia National Laboratorie
ABS and MOBY Robotics Sign MoU on Subsea Mining Technologies
ABS and MOBY Robotics Inc. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance technologies supporting subsea mining and offshore mineral transport.The MoU establishes a framework for ABS to support MOBY in the development, certification and eventual classification of autonomous robotic systems and other key technologies in accordance with ABS Requirements for Subsea Mining and ABS Offshore Rules. Areas of focus include subsea and surface robotics, vertical lifting systems, ocean surface production, storage and offloading platforms for critical minerals, and surface mineral transport vessels.
February 2026
