Underwater autonomous robots roam the seafloor

ㆍAn underwater robot created by Singapore’s startup ‘BeeX’ is designed to navigate the ocean and safeguard underwater infrastructure autonomously.

ㆍIt pushes the limits of human divers by mapping and rapidly scanning complex seafloor features.

ㆍUnderwater autonomous robots, like space rovers, are guiding us to new frontiers of the ocean.

Protect property in the sea

Just as there is infrastructure on land, there is also a significant amount of it underwater. This includes underwater cables, pipelines, tunnels, bridges, roads, and potentially in the future, social infrastructure and private buildings in undersea cities. If you need to check the safety and functionality of your underwater infrastructure, you can deploy these robots for immediate inspection. BeeX has developed an autonomous robot solution to safeguard underwater infrastructure by conducting thorough underwater inspections using hovering autonomous underwater vehicles (HAUVs). This eliminates the need for human divers to undertake risky dives of tens of meters and instead allows the robots to penetrate deep into the water to carry out precise, data-driven inspections.

Underwater detective

BeeX is at the forefront of autonomous robotics-as-a-service (ARaaS), aiming to enhance underwater inspections worldwide. They have developed an autonomous underwater robot called A.IKANBILIS, which is equipped with an HD camera optimized for low-light performance and two 500Wh onboard batteries. Just like a detective, it surveys the underwater environment. How?

1. Unmanned: Performs underwater tasks independently without human intervention. It can locate itself, create a route, and navigate autonomously.

2. Sustainability: With a built-in electric battery pack, the robot arrives on-site immediately without the need for a diesel generator and eliminates the need for expensive specialized vessels. The goal is to reduce carbon emissions by more than 90%.

3. Fast information processing: A.IKANBILIS is the most powerful computing platform underwater. It has a CPU capable of fast serial computation based on numerous sensor inputs. Additionally, the parallelism of the GPU enables the best machine learning algorithms to assist the underwater robot in achieving autonomy.

4. Consistent, high-quality data collection: A highly responsive computerized control system achieves stable flight maneuvers. It features an auto-stop function that works even in rough currents, ensuring that high-quality data can be collected without any variables.

Mankind’s last bunker is the ocean

The ocean holds many unknown mysteries that are invisible to our eyes. Imagine if there were autonomous underwater robots exploring the ocean floor like the rovers that roam the surface of other planets. Just as we see rovers extracting resources from the moon, underwater robots could mine the ocean floor for valuable resources. For instance, BeeX’s A.IKANBILIS has discovered signs of marine life while monitoring biodiversity on an artificial reef in the Dutch North Sea. The 3D visualization files captured by A.IKANBILIS’s camera and processed in high quality may reveal new life forms never seen before! A.IKANBILIS is already being utilized in the energy and defense sectors in the ocean, working on tasks such as monitoring floating solar farms and detecting threats to military installations. Who would do the construction if we were to build a bunker at the bottom of the ocean? Ocean Rover would be up to the task.