UK-based scaleup Beam is the result of the recent merger of offshore technology companies Rovco and Vaarsthas the “world’s first” Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) controlled by AI.
The mini-submarine can complex underwater tasks without any human intervention. There is no one to control it, no one to steer it in the right direction, no pre-mission planning required, the company says. However, if necessary, a remote operator can take control.
The underwater drone is equipped with so-called edge AI, which involves deploying AI models within devices rather than being connected to them via the cloud, as is the case with generative AI models such as ChatGPT. Localizing the AI increases data processing speed, saves energy, and – crucially for underwater operations – means the AUV can operate without Wi-Fi.
“In offshore operations, you can't rely on a continuous, reliable internet connection – in subsea operations, this is even more important,” Brian Allen, CEO and co-founder of Beam, told TNW. “The robot is making decisions in real time, so minimizing latency is also important, especially in a safety-critical environment.”
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The AI model that acts as the brain of the AUV was trained on a huge dataset collected over years from previous offshore projects and inspections. The algorithm has “learned” to identify problems like erosion or other issues in a similar way to how a human can. Beam says its AI models are continually improved and adapted as they continue to be trained on new data.
Beam recently put the underwater drone through its paces at Seagreen, the world's deepest bottom-mounted offshore wind farm off the coast of Scotland. In one day, the AUV successfully surveyed the entire foundation of a wind turbine attached to the seabed 58 meters below the surface.
The United Kingdom has approx. 14.7 GW of installed offshore wind capacity, generating 16% of the country's electricity, but policymakers are targeting 50 GW by 2030.
These offshore wind turbines, plagued by waves and corrosion, will require a lot of maintenance. According to Beam, the use of AI-controlled AUVs could Inspection times can be reduced by up to half. And instead of requiring humans to monitor each underwater vehicle, autonomy frees up humans for more complex tasks.
Beam will roll out the new autonomous technology across its entire fleet of survey vessels, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and AUVs in 2025 and 2026, it said.
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