Page 12: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2007)

12 MTR July 2007

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Bluefin Robotics Corporation 237 Putnam Avenue

Cambridge MA 02139

Tel: 617 715 7080

Fax: 617 498 0067

Email: [email protected] www.bluefinrobotics.com

CEO/President: Dr. Brian Abraham

COO: Robert Grieve

Engineering Director: Dr. Joseph Bondaryk

Marketing Director: Deanna Abraham

Facilities: Bluefin occupies two facilities in the greater Boston area. The main facility is a 37,000 sq. ft. headquarters on Putnam Avenue in

Cambridge, MA which houses three floors of engi- neering, manufacturing, and corporate administra- tive functions. Our permanent marine operation is based in the former U.S. Navy shipyard in Quincy,

Mass., which provides Bluefin with year-round ocean access for testing and sea trials.

Testing Capabilities: Four test tanks, machine shop, 42 ft. boat, RHIB, 35 ton crane

Number of Employees: 60

Annual Sales: N/A

Founded in 1997, Bluefin we have over the years grown to serve a variety of global markets, with military, com- mercial (oil and gas exploration, sea floor mapping) and archaeological applications. Our wide range of vehi- cles include the long-endurance Spray

Glider, the untethered HAUV designed for ship hull inspection, and the BF series of AUVs, available in a wide range of standard or customized configurations. In addition, our product family includes innovative propulsion, navigation, and battery systems that have benefited from our years of experience in subsea compo- nent design.

Bluefin Robotics BF series vehicles are the only commercially available

AUVs that boast a completely modu- lar, flooded architecture for optimum performance at even the greatest depths. All BF series AUV's feature rapid on-the-fly swapping of our spe- cially designed pressure-tolerant bat- teries for safe, fast turnaround at sea (without ever opening a water-tight seal). In addition, our Operator Tools

Suite of software, including Mission

Planner, makes mission programming simple and intuitive for every applica- tion.

Technology Profile: Bluefin has exclusive licenses with MIT, Scripps

Institute of Oceanography, and

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research

Institute. These partnerships in com- bination with our in-house R&D programs, allow us to deliver innova- tive subsea solutions to our customers worldwide.

The Bluefin product line includes a variety of AUVs. The BF series includes the Bluefin-9, Bluefin-12, and Bluefin-21. The Bluefin-9 is a two-man deployable AUV which achieves high navigational accuracy and short turnaround time between missions. The Bluefin-12 offers a greater depth rating, longer endurance, and increases payload flexibility. The Bluefin-21 is the world's smallest deep-water AUV and is ideal for re-configurability and cus- tomization. In 2003, Bluefin licensed glider technology from Scripps for the Bluefin Spray Glider. We are focusing on sensor integration and commercialization of the vehicle.

Funded by ONR and developed in conjunction with MIT, the Hovering

AUV or HAUV is the most recent vehicle to the Bluefin family. It is modeled off of Remote Operated

Vehicles but is independent from any cabling. Bluefin has recently received a NAVSEA contract to demonstrate the HAUV and its hull inspection capabilities in August 2007. This is the first phase of three and if success- ful the demonstration may lead to vehicle improvements and ultimately a number of vehicle builds.

In search of reliable subsystems,

Bluefin has developed a number of derivative products. Bluefin Subsea

Battery Systems not only power

AUVs but power other underwater vehicles owned by our customers.

Blufin’s batteries have gained popu- larity across applications primarily because they are internally pressure- compensated, fully-submersible and highly robust.

This also stands true of our propul- sion systems that are based on a gim- balled design. Furthermore, our nav- igation system is unique to Bluefin and extremely accurate; so-much-so, we compare it to INS systems. Lastly,

Bluefin software interface for mission planning, mission monitoring, and post-mission analysis has taken years to develop and is constantly under re- evaluation and therefore continuous- ly advancing.

Dr. Brian Abraham, CEO

BPAUV

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