A French consortium comprising three partners has secured a €3 million grant to develop and qualify subsea resident patrol technologies.
The consortium is made of Ifremer, a French research institute dedicated to the ocean, FinX, a start-up specialized in bio-inspired underwater thrusters, and led by Forssea Robotics, a French provider of smart remotely operated vehicle (ROV) assets and services.
Under the name Residence, the R&D project will focus on qualifying critical building blocks for long-term immersion including navigation, positioning, communication and docking technologies.
The project aims to develop the strategic building blocks necessary for residence in order to have, in the medium term, a low-cost underwater vehicle capable of remaining at depth without a physical link with the surface.
After having identified the expected functional performances for each of the technological building blocks, the aim will be to develop an underwater vehicle capable of operating without mobilizing a support vessel, at a low cost and with a reduced carbon footprint.
Forssea’s new generation hybrid ROV will be deployed as the main demonstration platform.
The first results are expected in 2025, with early commercialization in 2026.