Blueprint Lab has been awarded a Defence Global Competitiveness Grant to grow our in-house verification and testing capabilities. The grant will go towards the purchase of an inspection class ROV deployable test vehicle and associated equipment as well as fund certification activities to meet international EMC safety standards.

The Defence Global Competitiveness Grant – officiated by The Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Melissa Price MP, is awarded to pioneering small Australian businesses to help them invest in projects that build their defence export capability. The grant contributes to the cost of “investing in projects that build export capability to build a stronger, more sustainable and globally competitive Australian defence industry.”

The grant will assist Blueprint Lab in remaining globally competitive through the regular testing and continuous improvement of the Reach Bravo Robotic Arm. It will further improve technology currently being utilised in global military and oil and gas programs as well as allow us to open new export opportunities into allied militaries.

Having an in-house ROV test capability will allow us to conduct regular real-world testing on the type of underwater ROVs our manipulators are designed for. Getting our systems into the water to use in the scenarios that our customers need them for will enable rapid product innovation and improvement. Whereas this was more achievable for the Reach Alpha robotic arm series, the larger Reach Bravo requires a larger, more expensive, underwater vehicle and therefore Australian Government funding was fundamental in enabling this purchase.

TEST ACTIVITY: The Reach Bravo 7 manipulator integrated on a Seaeye Falcon ROV during underwater tests