Kraken to build underwater drones for offshore energy data analysis

Kraken Robotic Systems has launched the initial phase of its OceanVision project, deploying its sensors and unmanned underwater platforms to conduct ultra-high definition seabed imaging and mapping on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and other areas of Atlantic Canada.

OceanVision is a three-year, $20 million project focused on the development of new marine technologies and products to enable an underwater data acquisition and analytics as a service business. OceanVision enables the acceleration of Kraken’s strategy from sensors and system sales to becoming an integrated provider of Robotics as a Service (RaaS) and Data as a Service (DaaS), the company says.

Karl Kenny, Kraken’s president and CEO said, “OceanVision will result in an end-to-end digitalization solution offering advanced sensors, robots and data analytics as a turnkey service for imaging and mapping of the seafloor as well as seabed assets and infrastructure.

“Today, high fidelity data is an absolute requirement for coherent input to machine learning algorithms – otherwise it’s garbage in, garbage out. We are uniquely positioned in the underwater industry as Kraken will build, own and operate the sensor-laden drones; Kraken (and partners) will run the missions; and Kraken (and partners) will analyze the data for our customers.”

OceanVision will enable Kraken to further new technology and product development and fine-tune recurring revenue business models. While near-term focus of the project will be the Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance (IRM) segments for offshore energy (oil & gas and wind), OceanVision will also address the requirements of other stakeholders in the fisheries, aquaculture, ocean science and underwater defense industries.