Current Updates From SeaRobotics

The parallels between advanced marine robotics and theme park rollercoasters may appear only fleeting at first glance, but specialized engineering for the theme park industry has always been an important part of the SeaRobotics service portfolio. Our mainstay ocean industry customers—mostly commercial and military entities looking to invest in Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) technology—are usually surprised to hear that we have a well-established client list in the entertainment industry. “So, you guys build rollercoasters, too?” they often quiz.

In recent decades, marine robotics has proven to be the key enabling technology in the execution of increasingly complex at-sea missions. One clear manifestation of this is the ascendency of Autonomous Surface Vehicles, or ASVs. While early ASVs (back in the 1990s) were mostly inspired by aquaculture, modern-day advances in multibeam sonar, data processing, and GNSS positions have ushered in a new era of high-quality data acquisition. Today, ASVs are the preferred means of instrumentation among hydrographers.

There are several reasons for the ascendancy of commercial Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) for unmanned marine surveys.

SeaRobotics Corporation (SRC), a leading developer of marine robotics, today announced details of their next generation Utility Class ASV, the SR-Utility 3.0. This latest addition to the SRC portfolio is designed to extend the range and versatility of unmanned coastal marine survey operations by providing professional surveyors with a configurable platform that allows for interchangeable payloads and sensors, including the incorporation of existing instrumentation.

SeaRobotics Corporation, a leading developer of unmanned marine systems, announced a contract award to supply multiple SR-Surveyor M1.8 ASVs to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to help the Department of the Navy develop its advanced autonomy research program. The SR-Surveyor M1.8 is a tightly integrated, 1.8-meter long ASV designed to streamline logistics and optimize data acquisition in shallow and hard-to-navigate waters. The platform is specifically purposed to be versatile and rapidly deployable for users that require high quality, reliable data capture in remote and restricted waters.

While 2020 has been atypical, it has also been a busy year for the team at SeaRobotics. Here, in a short series of Q&As, we meet the engineering minds behind Florida’s premier designer and manufacturer of unmanned marine systems.