Elwave attracts support for subsea robotics venture

Elwave has raised funds to support development of its first products for underwater robotics, including applications in the offshore wind sector.

The company was formed in 2018 to commercialize technology developed by the Biorobotic Laboratory of Institut Mines Telecom Atlantique.

Electric sense (or active electrolocation) is an electromagnetic perception mode employed by tropical fish living in muddy and cluttered waters. The Elwave technology, based on this bio-mimetics approach, is said to provide a real-time 360° perception for underwater and industrial robots, either remotely piloted or autonomous.

It can detect, locate and characterise the shape and size of objects in both simple and complex environments and is under review for tracking of buried objects in underwater sediments such as cables and pipelines.

Currently Elwave is working on solutions with Total, Saipem, iXblue and others for implementation on their underwater vehicles.

It plans to use the finance raised to industrialise and commercialise its first products and pursue developments in electronics and artificial intelligence.

Initial targets are shallow water applications such as offshore wind cables inspection and ROV/AUV navigation.

Source: Offshore Magazine