The underwater drone must be able to operate for several months under the surface

TECH

An underwater robot for cultivation in water is to be developed in a new project. The robust water drone should be able to spend several months at a stretch below the surface.

A new underwater drone for aquaculture is to be developed during a 30-month project. The drone, which will initially help with cultivation in the sea or in pools, is being developed by the Swiss company Hydromea together with the Norwegian Unplugged.

The two companies have received a financing of two million euros in the first stage. The goal is to produce a drone that can stay underwater for several months. The system must be able to carry out daily data collection to allow water growers to share information from their aquaculture.

Lack of cheaper solutions

Igor Martin, CEO of Hydromea, says in a press release that growth in aquaculture such as seaweed farms is expected to increase and that new solutions for data collection are therefore needed.

– Building a digital twin of an underwater asset is currently almost impossible. The existing technologies are largely developed around the defense, offshore oil and gas sectors that can afford complex systems. However, the economics of the upcoming emerging sectors are such that they require robust, cheaper and miniaturized surveillance solutions, he says in the press release.

The Norwegian company Unplugged works with induction solutions and has previously worked with larger underwater robots. Their modules can provide cable-free power supply of 30 W to 3 kW at water depths down to 4,000 meters. This smaller drone system should open up new ways to monitor assets below the surface.

– Such a platform will enable the collection and transmission of data, the establishment of interoperable communication links between sensors, infrastructure and larger vehicles, says Thomas Meyer, chief operating officer at Unplugged, in the press release.