Nauticus Fleet: Robotic Surface, Subsea Fleet Launched

Houston-based Nauticus Robotics Inc. announced the initial production run of Nauticus Fleet, a robotic navy of 20 Hydronaut - Aquanaut pairs. 

These tandem pairs will be deployed in multiple offshore industries serving applications ranging from subsea maintenance and intervention to data collection activities. These first sets of robots will be delivered in Q4 2022, with the remainder being fulfilled by the end of 2024.

Nauticus is currently planning regional operations within the Gulf of Mexico, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. 

“Nauticus Fleet represents the most promising operational and technological step changes in this industry,” said Nicolaus Radford, CEO of Nauticus. “We are on a mission to create a future where more autonomous and intelligent robots are used to significantly reduce environmental impact and human exposure to hazards, while at the same time improving the bottom line for our clients.”

The surface aspect of the fleet is Hydronaut, an 18-meter optionally crewed autonomous surface vessel (ASV) that supports the launch, recovery and real-time operations of Aquanaut, its undersea robotic counterpart. Hydronaut ferries Aquanaut to and from the worksite and supports battery recharges and the communications link from the local remote operations center for supervised autonomous operations. Additional technical and operational support can be provided from Nauticus’ Houston-based global remote operations center.

Aquanaut is a fully electric, free-swimming subsea robot, controlled through acoustic communication networking and can perform a wide range of data collection, inspection, and manipulation tasks. Aquanaut’s defining capability is operating in two separate modes: actively transforming itself between the excursion and intervention configurations. Excursion mode involves the usage of data collection and perception sensors during transit, while intervention mode uses two electric work-class manipulators (Nauticus’ Olympic Arms) to perform work in the subsea environment.

On December 16, 2021, Nauticus and CleanTech Acquisition Cop. (NASDAQ: CLAQ), a special purpose acquisition corporation, entered into a definitive business combination agreement that would result in Nauticus becoming a public company.