‘World’s first’ AI-powered autonomous subsea vehicle changing underwater inspection and survey game (Video)

UK-headquartered tech player Beam, formed by the merger of Rovco and Vaarst, has tucked a milestone in marine technology and underwater robotics under its belt with the development and deployment of a new innovative technology offering, said to be the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

The UK player describes its new technological achievement as a “groundbreaking” undertaking that promises to revolutionize marine technology and underwater robotics by leveraging advanced AI to perform complex underwater tasks without human intervention. This is anticipated to boost efficiency and curb costs of subsea inspections and surveys.

Beam claims this technology has already been employed to inspect jacket structures at the Seagreen wind farm, representing Scotland’s largest offshore wind site, operational since October 2023, and deemed as the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm, which is run by a joint venture consisting of SSE Renewables, TotalEnergies, and PTTEP.

According to the UK tech developer, the project at Seagreen has yielded critical insights into the potential of autonomous technology for large offshore wind superstructures, as the data gathered by its AI-driven vehicle is anticipated to support ongoing operational reliability at the site, offering insights on areas such as marine growth and potential erosion at the foundations.

Matthew Henderson, Technical Asset Manager – Substructure and Asset Lifecycle at SSE Renewables, emphasized the importance of this technology for the industry by pointing out: “At SSE, we have a mantra that ‘if it’s not safe, we don’t do it.’

“Beam’s technology demonstrates that autonomous inspections can reduce the personnel we need to send offshore for planned inspections, while speeding up planned works and collecting rich data-sets to inform asset integrity planning.”

With offshore wind site inspections traditionally being manual, labor-intensive processes, the UK firm believes that its AI-powered vehicle provides a fully autonomous solution, allowing data to be streamed directly back to shore, enabling offshore workers to focus on more complex tasks and reducing inspection timelines by up to 50%, which, in turn, is anticipated to result in substantial operational cost savings.

Brian Allen, Beam’s CEO, highlighted: “We are very proud to have succeeded in deploying the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicle driven by AI. Automation can revolutionise how we carry out inspection and maintenance of offshore wind farms, helping to reduce both costs and timelines.

“Looking ahead to the future, the potential of this technology is huge for the industry, and success in these initial projects is vital for us to progress and realise this vision. This wouldn’t be possible without forward-thinking customers like SSE Renewables who are willing to go on the journey with us.”

Aside from improving efficiency, Beam’s technology is perceived to enhance the quality of inspection data and enable the creation of 3D reconstructions of assets alongside visual data.

As a result, the tech player is set to roll out this AI-driven solution across its fleet of DP2 vessels, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and AUVs throughout 2025 and 2026, further contributing to the global energy transition momentum.

Recently, Beam poured a £15 million (around €17.8 million) investment in the Xplorer ASVs and the Quantum EV electric work-class ROV. As previously reported, the UK firm is set to increase its headcount with 50 more employees to support international projects, including those in the U.S. and Asia.

“As we move further offshore, and into deeper waters – the ability to collect high-quality inspection data in a low-risk manner is imperative to us delivering our Net Zero Acceleration Programme,” underlined Henderson.