We are delighted to announce that we have signed a Letter of Intent with world leading subsea equipment manufacturer Soil Machine Dynamics for next generation EV Work Class ROV  technology.

SMD will provide Rovco with a new Atom EV high performance electric WROV, which will be the first of a fleet of vehicles designed to interface with our latest computer vision and AI capabilities, offering a smarter way of working to drive efficiency and lower project costs. This solution enables us to offer our clients a step change in autonomous services, powered by our technology spin-off, Vaarst.

The Atom EV WROV operates with superior precision in 3 knot water currents, drastically increasing the ROV operating window and enabling us to offer services that others with older technologies cannot. The new vehicle’s cutting-edge DC power system offers high efficiency and a reduced CO2 footprint, together with adaptive onboard flight control which interfaces seamlessly with Vaarst technology and supports future advances in this pioneering solution. The Atom EV WROV will be paired with an all-electric launch and recovery system from MacArtney, pushing eco-credentials even further.

Mark Collins, Business Development Director at SMD comments, “Rovco and Vaarst have big plans in subsea autonomy and artificial intelligence. This fits well with SMD’s advanced underwater robotics programme and having spent nearly 5 years developing this exciting new technology we are delighted Rovco has chosen us as their next generation subsea robotics partner.”

Simon Miller, Managing Director at Rovco comments, “We have been working closely with the team at SMD to tailor this solution, and Rovco is absolutely delighted to move the deal forward. This is a significant investment in ensuring Rovco remains at the leading edge of the survey and inspection projects we deliver to the Marine Energy Sector. One of our passions and key drivers is ensuring that the technology we deploy plays a pivotal role in the quality of the data we collect and deliver, and indeed the overall service we provide to our valued customers. Another is making sure that we continue to engineer new ways to reduce our own carbon footprint. The all-electric Atom WROV system fully enables both of these drivers to be achieved. With our SubSLAM and ML library integration, combined with over-the-horizon control, our move toward the realisation of fully autonomous ML and AI led subsea inspections is further accelerated.”