Our innovations are applied within offshore energy, aquaculture, environmental monitoring and infrastructure monitoring. We work across the entire value chain, from problem definition and concept selection to prototyping, laboratory testing, field verification and deployment with our industrial partners.
Our focus on industry-relevant, value-creating applications and our experience from a wide range of operations, environments and systems mean reduced development and execution risk for our customers, faster implementation, and solutions designed for real-world use in demanding subsea environments.
We collaborate closely with industry and with national and international research communities in both large and small projects supported by, among others, the EU and the Research Council of Norway.
Autonomy and underwater navigation
We develop algorithms and systems that make subsea drones (ROVs and AUVs) more precise, robust and useful, especially in demanding environments such as subsea energy production, aquaculture and port areas. Our focus areas include modelling, control, dynamic positioning, state estimation, underwater navigation, real-time motion planning, obstacle avoidance and safe operation near structures.
We have particular experience with operations in aquaculture cages, around nets, moorings and installations—environments with waves, currents, moving structures, fish, biofouling and limited visibility. This experience is also relevant for offshore wind, oil and gas, ports, infrastructure, environmental monitoring and other marine IMR operations.
Perception, 3D sensing and robust control
We work with underwater perception based on cameras, sonar, multibeam sonar, 3D sonar, DVL, USBL, IMU, and pressure and environmental sensors. The goal is to develop improved situational awareness: Where is the robot? What does it see? Which objects, holes, obstacles, structures or changes are relevant to the operation?
We also develop machine learning-based controllers that achieve robust control of different underwater vehicles within minutes.
Inspection, maintenance and intervention
We develop solutions for automated and partially autonomous inspection, maintenance and repair underwater. This includes, for example, net inspection in aquaculture, inspection of marine structures, automatic detection of faults or anomalies, navigation along structures, and the use of subsea manipulators and specialised tools for targeted tasks.
We contribute to moving underwater operations from manually demanding, one-off missions to more repeatable, documentable and data-driven workflows – with the right balance of autonomy and operator involvement where it creates the most value.
What we can do
- Autonomy for subsea drones used in inspection, mapping, monitoring and intervention
- Modelling, simulation and control of underwater vehicles, including RL-based, adaptive and robust control
- Underwater navigation, positioning, SLAM, sensor fusion and state estimation
- Real-time motion planning, 3D planning, obstacle avoidance and safe navigation near structures
- Robotic arms, subsea manipulators and vehicle–manipulator systems
- Camera-, sonar- and 3D sonar-based perception, object localisation, inspection, and AI/ML methods for inspection and data processing
- Digital twins, simulators, operator support, data processing and decision support
- Field trials, data collection, experimental validation and transition from research to industrial application
Equipment, laboratories and software
- Access to laboratories and test infrastructure, including the Ocean Basin, Fjordlab (with subsea infrastructure and sea-based test arenas), and SINTEF ACE (including aquaculture facilities)
- Various subsea drones: ROVs and AUVs
- Sensor packages for underwater robotics: DVL, USBL, sonar/multibeam sonar/3D sonar, cameras, stereo/mono vision, IMU, pressure and temperature sensors
- Expertise and codebase for control, navigation, planning, sensor fusion, simulation, data acquisition and analysis—typically in ROS/ROS 2
- Experience with datasets, annotation, analysis and digital twin/simulation environments for subsea operations
What we offer
- Feasibility studies and technology mapping: what is possible, what is mature, and where the risks lie
- Development of autonomous inspection solutions for ROVs, AUVs and vehicle–manipulator systems
- Algorithm development, sensor integration, prototyping and testing of autonomous functions
- Laboratory and field testing with documentation of performance, robustness and operational limitations
- Project development, research proposals and demonstrators for, among others, the EU and the Research Council of Norway
- Independent expert assessment of technology, vendor solutions, autonomy, safety and operational benefits
What we can achieve together with customers and partners
- Clear problem definition and requirement specification for underwater robotics in your operations
- A realistic roadmap from current ROV operations to increased autonomy, improved decision support and more data-driven inspection
- Prototype, demonstrator or pilot for autonomous navigation, automated inspection, defect/damage detection, 3D mapping, manipulation or digital twins
- Validated results from laboratory and field, with documented benefits, limitations and further development needs
- A stronger basis for investment decisions, procurement, industrialisation, standardisation and safe operations