Page 51: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2023)

“We want to play our role in challenging the market. We want to be a game changer for ROVs and for all robots underwater.”

Nico Günzel

Managing Director,

Framework Robotics

Images courtesy Framework Robotics • Tracker, a Remotely Operated Crawling Vehicle (ROCV) he said, rather “we want to play our role in challenging the

The ROTV is on the market as of 2022, and today Günzel market. We want to be a game changer for ROVs and for all said the company has its ? rst pilot customer for Companion. robots underwater.”

The ROV Buddy – which is built with a 1000m depth rating, On the technical side Günzel wants to extend his company’s with an optional 6000m depth rating too – will debut in South- portfolio with additional con? gurations and modules. “We ampton at Ocean Business 2023 in the test tank. are convinced that the future lies in autonomous systems,” he

Günzel said that still today 95% of its vehicle components said. “So we want to develop autonomous vehicles for under- are made on its 3D printer, speci? cally an industrialized water missions, and we will focus our long-term tech efforts multi-jet fusion HP 3D printer. particularly on the area of autonomy.”

Günzel stresses time and again the importance of modular- Today, though, the focus is on building brand and vehicle ity, in using the same components across multiple vehicle recognition, and the ROTV is out now on a scienti? c mission types and size con? gurations, allowing Framework Robotics to monitor ? sh and ? shnet behavior in an aquaculture environ- to build and maintain vehicles that are custom designed and ment, using high-resolutions cameras on the towed system. built but the mass market approach of being able to repair and First tests it the ROV Buddy are happening now in the Baltic replace components somewhat seamlessly via 3D printing. Sea, in advance of Ocean Business.

Finally, Günzel and his team are focused on the topic of

The Path Ahead nearly every start up, and that’s money to move to the next

Günzel and his team are well aware that the market they en- level. “The challenge for a startup is to ? nd money from inves- ter is somewhat limited in size, and also increasingly crowded, tors, because you need money for your employees, you need ranging from smaller start-ups to corporate behemoths occu- money for development.” pying the space. “We do not wish to dominate the market,” www.marinetechnologynews.com 51

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