Powering the World's First Fleet of Robot Ships

The maritime and scientific community have set themselves the ambitious target to map the entire ocean floor by 2030. Volvo Penta and Danfoss Editron will play a role by powering a novel fleet of unmanned surface robots for subsea exploration.The companies have been commissioned for the unique venture by Grovfjord Mek. Verksted (GMV) shipyard, to power the world’s first fleet of autonomous robot exploration vessels for commercial use.

Houston Mechatronics Leverages Greensea's OPENSEA

Greensea says its universal open software architecture OPENSEA was put to work as a development platform for Houston Mechatronics in the early development phases of its shape-shifting Aquanaut underwater vehicle.HMI's Aquanaut is a multipurpose subsea robot which employs a patented shape-shifting transformation from an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to a tetherless remotely operated vehicle (ROV), removing the need for large vessels and umbilicals.

Reid Takes the Helm at Kraken

Canadian marine technology company Kraken Robotics announced that Karl Kenny, Founder, President and CEO, will be appointed Executive Chairman of Kraken and transition the President and Chief Executive Officer role to Greg Reid. Reid joined Kraken more than seven years ago as Chief Financial Officer and since 2019 has been Chief Operating Officer. This transition will become effective January 1, 2023.

Installation Underway for World's Longest Heated Subsea Pipeline

Installation is underway in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea for the world’s longest heated subsea production pipeline, oil and gas company Neptune Energy has informed.The project will see the installation of the 36-kilometer electrically trace-heated (ETH) pipe-in-pipe solution transport oil from the Neptune Energy-operated Fenja field to the Njord A platform, operated by Equinor.The first phase of the installation saw a 9km section safely installed and successfully tested…

Barcodes to Drive Down Pipeline Inspection Costs

Three French companies are working on a pipeline inspection solution that combines ROVs and the use of visual markers - barcodes - directly integrated on subsea pipelines.The solution, being developed by tubular solutions firm Vallourec, smart robotics and visual positioning start-up Forssea Robotic, and subsea positioning and inertial navigation firm iXblue, promises to drive down the costs of subsea pipeline inspections.According to the companies involved…

Brix Marine Building Research Vessel for Northrop Grumman

Boatbuilder Brix Marine (formerly Armstrong Marine USA) has been contracted by aerospace and defense technology company, Northrop Grumman, to build a catamaran survey-research vessel, slated for fall 2021 completion.The 44- by 16-foot vessel is Brix’s third IPS-drive catamaran; the first two were 4216-CTC models, both delivered in 2019, to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography (R/V Bob and Betty Beyster) and Orca Maritime, Inc.

Unique Group Debuts New Survey USV

Unique Group, a provider of  services and solutions for the offshore, subsea and life support industries, has designed and developed its first Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) called Uni-Cat.With proven hydrographic survey capabilities, the Uni-Cat can be used effectively for bathymetry survey offshore and in shallow waters, claimed a press release from the integrated subsea and offshore solution provider."It is ideal to be used in locations where conventional survey methods are not feasible…

IUEM Chooses iXblue Equipment

Navigation, positioning and underwater imaging solutions provider iXblue said it has been chosen by the European Institute for Marine Studies (IUEM) to provide 8 Canopus long baseline (LBL) transponders for a geodetic mission off the coast of Sicily. Deployed on the seabed, 2,500 meters below the surface, the Canopus transponders will measure the crustal deformation along the North-South Alfeo faults with a millimeter-scale resolution over the course of four years.Hubert Pelletier…

Forum Delivers Three Work-class ROVs to Brazil's OceanPact

Forum Energy Technologies (FET), a company that supplies remotely operated vehicles to offshore energy industry firms, has delivered three of its 200HP Perry XLX-C work-class ROVs to Brazil-based OceanPact.The ROVs built at FET’s UK facility at Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, will be deployed across two of OceanPact’s vessels to support inspection, repair, and maintenance services for the state-owned oil company’s oilfields (Petrobras)."The 3…

Kraken Wins Pair of Navy Contracts

Canada-based marine technology company Kraken Robotics Inc. announced Tuesday it has won a pair of contracts to supply mine-hunting equipment to the navies in Denmark and Poland.The firm said it signed a $27.3 million (CAD 36 million) contract with Danish Ministry of Defense, Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) to supply mine-hunting sonar equipment to the Royal Danish Navy, and on September…

Subsea Robotics: Aquanauts, Hydronauts, Roll Out

Houston-based Nauticus Robotics’ first production Aquanauts and Hydronauts will head into the wild and closer to full commercialization this year, with testing planned in Norway and in the Gulf of Mexico. Founder and CEO Nicolaus Radford discusses the past few busy years for the tech start-up.It’s been a relatively fast journey for Nauticus. Set up in 2014 (as Houston Mechatronics Inc), the company has been a bit of an outsider in the offshore industry…

No Need for Mothership: Kongsberg Launches HUGIN Endurance AUV

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime has announced the next generation of its HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) that can carry out long missions without a mothership.Named HUGIN Endurance, Kongsberg Maritime says its new AUV boosts operational duration to approximately 15 days, enabling extended survey and inspection missions far from shore."This longevity allows HUGIN Endurance to undertake extensive missions without the support of a mothership.

Greensea Launches OPENSEA Edge

Designed for military use but now available commercially, OPENSEA Edge is designed to be a modular edge computing module with perception support for autonomous underwater robots based on Greensea’s OPENSEA open architecture software platform, advancing ocean robotics into the next generation.Greensea launched its latest product which the company says promises to bring true autonomy to ocean robotics.Based on Greensea’s open architecture platform OPENSEA…

Earliest Known Marine Navigation Tool Found

State-of-the-art laser scanning technology has helped researchers to confirm that an artifact recovered from the wreck of a sunken 15th century ship in the Indian Ocean is the earliest known marine navigation tool. When the Blue Water Recovery team found the object in 2014, they believed it was an astrolabe used by mariners to measure the altitude of the sun during voyages, but they were not certain as there were no visible navigational markings.

Robosys Automation Aims to Streamline Offshore Wind Environmental Data Collection

Robosys Automation is leading Project ORACLES, a venture which it says will transform the environmental consenting process for offshore wind farms.Currently the data collection process for environmental monitoring at proposed offshore wind sites is labor-intensive, with separate providers handling various aspects such as bird monitoring and sea conditions. Data is collected manually and analyzed after it reaches shore…

OPT Finds Tech Delivery Partner for Mexican Maritime Markets

U.S.-based low-carbon marine power, data, and service solutions provider Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has signed a new reseller agreement with a Latin America-based partner focused on supporting the Mexican offshore and maritime markets.The partnership significantly expands OPT’s commercial footprint across Latin America, leveraging the reseller’s regional presence and relationships within Mexico.Under the agreement…

RJE International Celebrates 25 Years

RJE International, supplier of mission critical products for underwater navigation and aquatic safety applications, is celebrating 25 years in business. RJE International has built a reputation as a manufacturer of quality and high-tech underwater products including diver navigation, diver sonar and underwater relocation products. RJE provides its mission critical products to the special operations community as well as other governmental and commercial customers worldwide.

Reassessing Alaska's Energy Frontier

Less than 80 miles from Prudhoe Bay, home to the giant oil fields that feed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, lies the site of USGS’ latest oil and gas assessment: the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and adjacent areas. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the NPR-A covers 22.8 million acres, more than the entire state of South Carolina. The new USGS assessment estimates 8.7 billion barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources.

Tech File: Imagenex 881AL-GS Gyro-stabilized Scanning Sonar

The Imagenex model 881A-GS, 881L-GS (881A/L-GS) and 882-GS are gyro stabilized, high resolution scanning sonars. Manufactured in Canada, the 881A/L-GS is available in models built to withstand depths up to 10,000 meters and can scan and display targets from 0.2 to 200 meters away. Available with either an RS-485, RS-232 or Ethernet interface gives the user a wide range of options for integration into an existing underwater platform.

VideoRay Adopts the Greensea System

Greensea, creator of OPENSEA, a universal marine industry operating platform, has been selected by VideoRay as the software provider for the new Mission Specialist ROV. Greensea provides navigation, advanced autopilots and automation for VideoRay’s powerful new customizable vehicles. With modular hardware and software, the Mission Specialist’s design maximizes efficiency and productivity by transforming to accommodate a wide selection of interchangeable ROV components.