ACUA Ocean, Forssea Robotics Conduct ROV

ACUA Ocean, Forssea Robotics Conduct ROV–USV Integration

ACUA Ocean, a provider of uncrewed surface vessel (USV) technology for maritime defense and offshore energy applications, and Forssea Robotics, a developer of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), announced the successful completion of integration trials pairing Forssea's ARGOS ROV with ACUA Ocean's USV Pioneer. The trials also featured positioning support from Sonardyne, utilizing a pole mounted mini-ranger 2 system.

Over three weeks in Plymouth the partners completed more than 40 deployments of the 170kg ARGOS ROV with every launch, dive and recovery commanded remotely from shore. This integration targeted a persistent gap in the offshore inspection and survey market: the ability to conduct robust, high-quality ROV operations from a vessel that can remain safely and reliably on station in conditions that regularly interrupt conventional operations. ARGOS was repeatedly launched, flown and recovered from USV Pioneer under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA). The ROV-USV deployment included operations in 2m waves south of the breakwater with no impact on the ROV.

The integrated system is designed around two complementary strengths:

During the operations, the two systems operated as a single remotely supervised package, controlled from the ACUA Ocean Remote Operations Centre at Turnchapel Wharf, with Forssea supervising simultaneously from its headquarters in Sète, France, and a dive live streamed to Eckenforde, Germany for the Cyber Innovation Hub of the Bundeswehr.

Over six days of at-sea operations, the campaign demonstrated:

Addressing the Needs of Offshore Monitoring, Inspection and Protection

The collaboration is aimed at offshore energy operators, subsea inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) providers, security of critical national infrastructure and survey companies seeking to: