Armach Robotics is shortlisted for The Biofouling Innovation Challenge

Armach Robotics has been shortlisted to compete in the Ocean Opportunity Lab and World Ocean Council’s The Biofouling Innovation Challenge. This is the first competition of its kind, born from an initiative to encourage the industry to embrace creative and innovative solutions around the effects and costs of biofouling within the ocean, maritime and renewable industry, and to restore biodiversity.

Armach is one of 34 companies whose innovative products and services were evaluated by a global jury of experts, and has been selected, along with 9 other companies, as “Solutions to Watch”. Armach will be presenting their high tech solution at Pitch Fest in Barcelona next month, as part of the WOC Sustainable Ocean Summit. They have introduced the world’s first autonomous system capable of proactive in-water cleaning and inspection, independent of coating type, in support of the worldwide goal of decarbonizing in shipping. The in-water robots are built on Greensea System, Inc.’s (Greensea) fully open architecture platform OPENSEA, the most powerfully integrated control and navigation technology available in the market today, operating in over 2,500 vehicles.

The robots offer proactive in-water cleaning capability, optimized for large ships, without magnetic robot adhesion to the ship’s hull, and the ability to clear 2,400 sqft (222 sqm) of hull per hour. They are man-portable, weighing around 66 lbs (30 kg), making it a convenient solution to implement, supporting vessel owners and operators’ need to keep their fleet at their optimal condition, therefore benefiting from fuel savings, operational efficiency and fleet readiness, as well as benefiting from hull intelligence and maintaining a lower environmental impact.

Shipping is responsible for at least 2.5% of the world’s total CO2 emissions, and the International Maritime Organization has set a target to reduce emissions by 50% by 2050. Ship owners and operators, increasingly under pressure to plan and manage vessel efficiency, are looking for new technologies as part of their strategy to reach the targets set reliably, scalable and cost effectively.

Incorporated in November 2021 as a spin-out company from Greensea, the technology is not coating specific, and is based on a state-of-the-art system, powered by Greensea’s autonomy, intelligence, and data fusion technologies.

Armach offers shipowners a proactive, autonomous in-water robotic cleaning solution, therefore a constantly clean hull, along with an accurate georeferenced hull condition survey following each cleaning operation.