The International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA) newly published ‘AUV Audit Guidance Document’ (IMCA S 028) has been developed by members of the Offshore Survey Division Management Committee with a view to promote a common approach to the auditing of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and their associated support systems.

This month, scientists from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) will join a team of marine scientists from the iAtlantic project on a month-long collaborative expedition to investigate the ecosystems and natural processes in the deep sea around the Cabo Verde islands in the central Atlantic Ocean.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ (KHI) has chosen a suite of subsea navigation, positioning and communications technologies from marine energy, defence and science company Sonardyne to navigate, track and control its first commercial SPICE autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has secured funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which will take robot submarine ‘Boaty McBoatface’ around end-of-life oil and gas fields. The Autonomous Techniques for infraStructure Ecological Assessment (AT-SEA) project, led by the NOC will trial the concept of using submarines like Boaty for high-tech, low-impact monitoring to pick up any potential environmental impacts at these sites.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) announced today that the Royal New Zealand Navy has placed the first international order for four REMUS 300 unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

ECA GROUP will replace the vessels’ conventional mine detection systems based on a hull sonar with a more compact, mobile and evolutive unmanned system UMIS, consisting of AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) A18-M drones fitted with the latest generation ECA GROUP synthetic aperture sonar UMISAS for detection, and several underwater robots, the Seascan MK2 and K-STER C for mines identification and neutralisation.

Kraken Robotics Inc., Canada’s Ocean Company™, is pleased to announce a second purchase order for 6000-meter rated AquaPix® MINSAS 120 sonars from Teledyne Gavia. While we cannot provide the specific amount of these orders to Kraken, they total between $1.75 and $2.0 million. Kraken expects to fulfill these orders in 2021.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) announced today a U.S. Navy order of two REMUS 300 unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

Global subsea services company, Modus Subsea Services Ltd has been awarded a contract to perform survey services in connection with a new cable corridor requirement in Ofotfjorden, northern Norway. The campaign will use the Modus Hybrid AUV (HAUV) system which represents the very latest in merged ROV and AUV technology.

Kraken Robotics Inc., Canada’s Ocean Company™, is pleased to announce that it has received an order for a 3000-meter rated AquaPix MINSAS 120 Synthetic Aperture Sonar from an American autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) manufacturer. The contract value is $0.5 million and delivery to the customer is expected in 2021. Since March of this year, Kraken has received orders for AquaPix MINSAS 120 Synthetic Aperture Sonars from customers in the US, Europe, and Australia for integration onto three different AUV platforms.

Modus Subsea Services Ltd. (Modus), a leading independent expert in the provision of seabed intervention, IMR, survey and specialist AUV services, announces the acquisition of two (2) complete, integrated, SPICE AUV systems from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. (KHI). SPICE AUVs represent highly capable systems, delivered by one of the World’s leading OEMs, capable of providing a wide range of autonomous services and data acquisition with high efficiency and quality, down to 3,000m water depth.

Hydromea unveiled the prototype of world’s first wireless underwater drone in a pool demo today. The drone can fit into a backpack, can be remotely controlled, and sends HD video back in real time without any physical connection to the pilot. The drone will deliver significant benefits in a number of inspection scenarios in confined flooded spaces, such as hydropower dams, closed waterways and ballast tanks on ships, reducing the cost and time-to-results, eliminating safety risks of dangerous inspections performed by humans today.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is providing 12 million euros as part of the Maritime Research Program for the development of a novel autonomous submersible robotics system that will enable autonomous monitoring of underwater installations in the deep sea with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

3D at Depth Inc., the world's expert in commercial SL Subsea LiDAR laser technology, announces the acquisition of a fully integrated Saab Sabertooth Hybrid AUV / ROV. The multi-million-dollar investment will complement 3D at Depth's SL Subsea LiDAR laser technology systems and 3rd party geophysical equipment, giving them an impressive spread of integrity measurement equipment. The system will expand the company's capabilities while simultaneously exceeding even the highest of client expectations in the Gulf of Mexico region and beyond. Industry enthusiasm surrounding this breakthrough service offering is extremely high and rising due to the SL Subsea LiDAR laser technology allowing 3D at Depth to stand out with autonomy.

Norwegian marine survey contractor Argeo has ordered a newbuild SeaRaptor 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from Teledyne Gavia, in parallel with securing a deep-water survey contract in the Pacific region.

Converted energy from waves powering a Saab Seaeye Sabertooth autonomous vehicle operating in seabed residency mode is a major renewable energy breakthrough.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced today the commercial release of its REMUS 300 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). This new, open architecture, small-class UUV can dive to depths of 305 meters (1,000 feet) and has endurance options up to 30 hours.

Arctic Rays, LLC has released Swordfish, a fully-integrated, geo-referenced, still and video imaging system payload for small AUVs.