Deep Trekker has secured $6 million grant for Advanced Subsea Technology Development utilising Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in underwater robots to help maintain sustainable industry structures.
Canada’s Ocean Supercluster awarded two new innovation projects to Deep Trekker to develop a Resident Autonomous Aquaculture Cage Inspection system and an Autonomous, Unmanned Vessel with submersible vehicle flyout to perform inspections and build models of offshore wind structures. This grant will help push Deep Trekker’s technology to the forefront of artificial intelligence and autonomy in sustainable industries.
“It is important to monitor the integrity of structures in open water to inform decisions of how to maintain these critical assets,†noted Sam Macdonald, President of Deep Trekker. “These grants will enable us to create families of unmanned systems that are safer and easier to deploy than ever before.â€
The new resident inspection system will have a remotely operated vehicle stationed in a garage ready to deploy to perform inspections and maintenance of nets to minimize the risk of collapse, fish escapes, and ensure fish health overtime on fish farms.
In Project Sentry, Deep Trekker will work with partners Visual Defence Inc. to create the new remote aquaculture monitoring solution. With a total project value of over $6.2 million, the Ocean Supercluster will provide $3 million with the balance coming from project partners.
This vehicle developed in the project will deploy on a periodic basis to perform inspections through various trophic levels. This solution will reduce reliance on physical human presence and the use of video, sensors, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in these in-cage vehicles will reduce the level of decision making for the human operator.
Project Sentry is expected to create and/or maintain 507 jobs, directly increasing Canada’s digital ocean workforce through the creation of jobs in AI, Machine Learning, cloud-based data processing, mechatronics, and software engineering.
Additionally, the creation of a caged aquaculture specific AI engine combined with autonomous underwater vehicle technology will significantly increase the digital capabilities of participating organizations by creating a scalable solution that can be applied to a wide variety of underwater inspection tasks.
The other project is what can be described as a mother-daughter system, where an unmanned surface vessel deploys a remotely operated vehicle with sensors that enable it to scan a structure and build a model of it. The project will produce a system that allows operators to control it from shore and drive out to an offshore wind farm to inspect structures such as monopiles safely and easily. The offshore wind inspection system project is a collaboration between unmanned surface vessel manufacturer HydroSurv, underwater laser and photogrammetry sensor manufacturer Voyis, and Deep Trekker.
Both of these systems will play an important role in making inspections more cost-effective, safer, and more accessible for sustainable food and energy production. Maintaining these structures will ensure access to cleaner energy and sustainable animal protein.
Deep Trekker Inc. was founded in 2010 with a mission to create portable, affordable, and easy to use harsh environment robotic inspection tools. The company is headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, with engineering and manufacturing all completed in-house. What began as a basement project has grown into 7 different robots, with thousands of vehicles shipped into over 100 countries globally. Deep Trekker has dozens of resellers around the world along with a sales and service office in Puerto Montt, Chile. Deep Trekker vehicles are used in many different industries, including law enforcement, ocean science, defense, municipal water & wastewater, and much more.
