Page 37: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2022)

GREEN MARINE CLEAN HULLS solutions, partnering with other manufacturers that build ro- applying data fusion and the use of robotics, we can maintain bots to generate a path to market. But Kinnaman said when he these hulls in a more ef? cient and more productive manner. went to commercialize the hull cleaning solution that he envi- So, we’re using brains over brawn here.” The cherry on top is sioned, “we couldn’t ? nd a manufacturer or a vehicle partner the resulting data product, allowing ship and ? eet managers that was ready to achieve the level of potential that we saw. to more closely monitor hull condition and act proactively,

So, we spun the technology out of Greensea into a new entity instead of reactively when and if a failure occurs.

called Armach Robotics, which is going forward with a com- plete, proactive in-water cleaning solution for ships and ship The Value Proposition hulls based on autonomy, data fusion and intelligence.” Saving the planet provides nice headlines, but in the case of

Armach Robotics is a Robot as a Service (RaaS) company, shipowners, money talks, and in fact Kinnaman suggest that aiming to provide resident vehicles to ships, resident vehicles there are ? ve clear value propositions to Armach Robotics to ports and harbors and vehicles to establish service provid- RaaS solution.

ers on a monthly subscription basis. 1. Fuel Savings: If you have a clean hull, you have less “What we are offering ship owners is a very simple prod- drag going through the water, it takes less fuel to move that uct: a constantly clean hull for a basic subscription fee. But ship. You’re going to have a very clear fuel savings bene? t, they also receive intelligence on the hull. After we clean we’re with estimates ranging between 10-20% of fuel savings by able to produce a data product that is a geo-referenced and maintaining a clean hull. accurate. So, we are not a robot provider. We’re not a service 2. Operational Ef? ciency: If you can clean on your terms, provider. We are a clean hull provider and we do that through and if you can maintain your hull on your terms, you are going a subscription method.” to realize increased operational ef? ciency. You can clean any- where, anytime you can maintain your hull and you know pro-

Advancing Technology actively the condition of your hull. Maintenance on your terms.

While much of the focus tends to fall on the mechanics and 3. Maintenance Cost Savings: If you’re maintaining and machinery, Kinnaman is adamant that solving the clean hull cleaning the hull, you’re going to save money on maintenance conundrum rests with the navigation system that service as the costs an extend the life of your coating. heart, soul and central nervous system of the machine. “It’s 4. Fleet Readiness. If that ship hull is clean and if the pro- all about navigation, because if you don’t have navigation, cess of maintaining that hull is done within the normal day-to- you don’t have anything,” said Kinnaman, saying that lack day cycle and transit cycle of the ship, the ship is going to be of accurate navigation results in undo wear-and-tear on coat- ready for deployment more often. ings, with systems overworking the coating, using very large 5. Environmental Bene? ts: Kinnaman calls this “the ? fth, systems or cleaning reactively, not proactively. ? nal and perhaps most signi? cant bene? t. With a clean hull, we “With an accurate navigation solution, we can enable a require less fuel to push the ship to the water, which means re- small, ef? cient robot that’s going to cover 100% of the hull. duced carbon emissions. In fact he cites this as the number one

It can a fully autonomous, so we get the diver out of the wa- motivator for him, personally, is the ability to provide a mean- ter. And if you have an accurate navigation solution, you also ingful change in the impact shipping has on the environment.

have a data product,” said Kinnaman. “There are a lot of solu- While predicting the pace and direction of any company, par- tions in the ? eld claiming hull survey, thickness survey, NDT ticularly a start-up, can be perilous in the best of time, Kinna- coating surveys, but there’s no navigation solution. So, I really man is con? dent that Armach – grounded in a solid technical question the quality of the data if you don’t know where the core matched with regulatory mandate and market demand – is data was taken on the ship hull. So, it all comes down to navi- “well-positioned to be the leader of a paradigm shift in industry.

gation. We approach this problem entirely from a navigation “We’re at the very beginning of realizing the bene? ts of perspective; if you know where the robot is on the hull, you proactive in-water cleaning and survey,” he said. “The reac- can assure 100% coverage.” tive methods of maintaining ship hulls is changing, and I think

The result is a continuously cleaned hull, optimized for per- that we’re seeing decisions that are going to start being made formance, helping to minimize fuel burn and emissions. by data and by intelligence versus reaction. I think ? ve years “We maintain ship hulls today almost exactly like we main- from now, we are going to see proactive, in-water cleaning tained ship hulls when we ? rst started sailing the oceans: we as a default method of maintaining hulls. I think that ships coat them with a toxic substance, we put divers in the wa- engineers and stakeholders and asset owners are going to be ter to scrape them clean and when the coating wears out, we maintaining and making decisions based on the data. And ? ve haul them out and re-coat them,” said Kinnaman. “There’s a years from now, Armach will be the leader in this concept, more intelligent way of maintaining hulls. By applying intel- will be the leader in hull data, we will be the leader of in-water ligence, by applying navigation, by applying autonomy, by proactive and water cleaning.” www.marinelink.com 37

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