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the ROV camera to aid the ROV pilots and optimise vessel via long range acoustics, which HMI says shifts conventional positioning during the installation and landing phase of the operational ROV and AUV paradigms and opens entirely new subsea assets. business models, says HMI.

The ? rm’s primary focus will continue to be the development Unlike conventional ROV technology, Aquanaut is equipped of arti? cial intelligence technologies for the subsea environ- with advanced robotics technology including machine learn- ment. ing, classi? cation, and perception guided force feedback ma- nipulation.

Houston Mechatronics: Robots in disguise This affords HMI to transition ROV operators to a higher

Innovation and disruption are often seen as two sides of one cognitive and a more value added supervisory role, according coin these days. Houston Mechatronics, Inc. (HMI) comes to HMI. No joystick manipulation of the vehicle or its ma- under at least one of those titles. The ? rm is a Houston-area nipulators is required and as such HMI’s motto for Aquanaut startup subsea service company, founded in 2014, by former is ‘mouse clicks not joysticks’.

NASA roboticists. Led by Aquanaut, HMI says it intends to continue develop-

The company’s business model is Robotics as a Service ing novel subsea capability and other robotic technology for (RaaS) – in itself a new concept within the subsea industry use in oil and gas and defence applications with an objective – which uses what HMI calls its in-house full stack robot- to increase reliability, ef? ciency, capability and safety.

ics capabilities. HMI’s ? rst investor was oil? eld services gi- ant Schlumberger (2015), while drilling ? rm Transocean led Stinger Technology: Small but well formed

HMI’s most recent Series B investment (2018), giving some Stavanger, Norway, based Stinger Technology, is something idea of the interest in the ? rm. of a boutique ? rm in the subsea space. It’s a small ? rm – with

HMI’s ? rst splash is the Aquanaut, a subsea service robot seven staff – but this year it’s been making ingress into sub- that can perform long range yet meaningful in-close manip- ulation tasks over low bandwidth networks, eliminating the need for surface ships. To accomplish this, Aquanaut is an all-

LEFT: Forssea is applying computer vision and machine electric underwater transforming vehicle, i.e., it can transform learning to subsea operations easier.

between being an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with work class manipu-

CENTER: MTR does not present an “MTR100 Creative lators. The vehicle, in prototype stage, can ef? ciently transit Photo” award, but if we did this year’s winner is Houston long distances and conduct conventional AUV-based sonar Mechatronics. Pictured is Houston Mechatronic’s Aqua- and visual surveys and when the vehicle is required to manip- naut in wet testing earlier this year. holding it’s MTR100 ulate something, the system initiates a subsea transformation, ‘trophy’.

which exposes two 1.5m eight degree of freedom manipula- tors.

RIGHT: A model of Stinger’s drone docking station con-

Aquanaut only needs a sparse data connection back to shore cept, developed for Equinor.

Houston Mechatronics

Elaine Maslin www.marinetechnologynews.com

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