Autonomous vessel company quadruples in size
A US based developer of autonomous vessel technology has quadrupled in size in the past 18 months mainly as a result of a growing demand for the technology.
Sea Machines Robotics opened a second office in Hamburg, Germany, in March which provides convenient access to several key locations and is supporting the company’s growing demand for engineering, sales and marketing across Europe.
“Sea Machines is doing the hard work required to deliver reliable advanced control and perception technology to the industry, which takes a broad technical team working ashore and on water to deliver upon on promises to our partners and customers,” said Michael Johnson, founder and CEO, Sea Machines.
Growing demand
One landmark order for the company came in April, when Sea Machines signed a contract with A.P. Moller-Maersk to trial its perception and situational awareness technology aboard one of the company’s new-build ice-class container ships.
In September, the company will release its SM300, the world’s first productised industrial-grade control system to provide autonomous and remote vessel control for workboats and other commercial marine vessels.
This technology serves operations looking for remote commanded operator-in-the loop autonomy in survey, spill response, dredging and security/surveillance.
Sea Machines is also managing a pilot programme with Tuco Marine of Denmark, to test the autonomous technology aboard ProZero workboats and will soon announce additional boat builders that are incorporating the technology.
The company anticipates that it will need to hire additional technical personnel – including perception engineers, software developers and autonomy engineers – in Boston and Hamburg in the very near future.
By Anne-Marie Causer
