Collaborative Partnerships Continue to Drive Innovation in 2023​

“Collaboration equals innovation.” –Michael Dell

We couldn’t agree more.

Through collaboration with other industry leaders and visionaries, VideoRay has developed  a reputation for delivering new solutions and enhanced underwater robotics capabilities that help customers overcome real-world challenges. 2023 will be another year of innovation as we work closely with strategic partners to push forward with technology initiatives and product enhancements.

Point Cloud Modeling

Point cloud modeling promises to change how underwater inspections are conducted by not only saving time, but also providing operators with better, more detailed deliverables.

To achieve these goals, the robot system and sensor payload are manually or autonomously maneuvered around an object, generating a 3D point cloud model of a subsea object or environment. The sensor payload could be a camera, stereo camera, laser, structured light, sonar, or a combination of technologies.

Even in poor visibility, 3D point cloud models provide operators with valuable, precise information and data. These models also enable operators to continue their inspection after the mission and even perform measurements.

VideoRay is partnering with Vaarst, Numurus, Voyis, Coda Octopus, and Zupt to advance point cloud modeling capabilities.​

Perception Autonomy

Perception technology saves time and money by locating and identifying objects before human operators, using AI-powered object recognition to detect and classify manmade objects of interest. Automatic Target Recognition uses sensor inputs to detect and determine size and distance of objects allowing for classification and identification. Forward Look Sonar can be mosaiced into a continuous geolocated, or ship hull-referenced map.

The same technologies used in point cloud modeling and perception, with simultaneous localization and mapping, can be used to autonomously control the robot’s thrusters to capture data without a pilot’s input. Sensor data is used to help the system better understand and react to its environment.

Applications for perception autonomy technology in defense, offshore oil and gas, renewables inspection, aquaculture, and more include both navigation tasks and complex intervention tasks such as cleaning and manipulation. Collaboration partners include Vaarst, Numurus, Voyis, Coda Octopus, Nauticus, Greensea, and Sarcos.

Distance Deployment

Traditional operation requires an underwater robotic system to be operated from the deployment site. This can be dangerous for the operator in certain environments, such as a minefield. Distance deployment will enable the system to be operated from another location, using a communication stream such as radiofrequency, acoustic modem, Wi-Fi, or even satellite.

Ideal for the defense, offshore, and nuclear markets, distance deployment will be important when moving to semi-autonomous and fully autonomous systems. VideoRay is collaborating with the U.S. Navy, U.K. Navy, Greensea, and Ocean Comm to develop distance deployment solutions.