Advanced Navigation opens Australia's largest subsea robotics centre

Australian company Advanced Navigation has announced the largest subsea robotics facility in Australia, located in Balcatta, Western Australia. The high-tech manufacturing and R&D facility will accelerate the production of the company’s underwater technologies, including its autonomous underwater robot, Hydrus.

“Now more than ever, there is a need to open up the earth’s oceans, to make data and knowledge more accessible to global communities, research institutions and governments. Western Australia has always been an exploration hub for ocean discoveries,” said Xavier Orr, CEO and co-founder, Advanced Navigation. “The new subsea centre will help Advanced Navigation meet the growing demand for high-grade underwater data, bringing new and existing solutions to market far more quickly and efficiently. With the goal to grow our subsea team threefold, we are confident this investment will deepen and advance our understanding of the oceans.”

The subsea centre is located on a 2.2 ha site. The facility is split between development and manufacturing for high volume production and continued research and expansion of subsea navigation and robotics technologies. This includes the growth of its underwater artificial intelligence division.

Advanced Navigation said it is a proud stalwart of independent, in-house design and vertical integration that has ushered in many innovations, including extreme miniaturisation of pressure-tolerant electronics, sophisticated sonar technologies and AI-based autonomous systems. The centre also includes full testing facilities with several marine simulation environments to ensure reliable performance and the highest quality production.

Advanced Navigation’s underwater navigation and robotic technologies are utilised across the blue economy, supporting research, aquaculture, offshore renewable energy, transportation, surveillance, biotechnology and high-tech services.

The company said its recent autonomous underwater robot Hydrus continues to revolutionise undersea research, survey and exploration by making data capture far simpler and vastly more accessible. The Hydrus design synthesises numerous navigational, sonar, propulsion and data capture technologies with artificial neural network (ANN) intelligence.

The company has support from prominent research institutions including the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and philanthropic organisation Minderoo.

“It’s exciting to see Advanced Navigation continue to grow its team of engineers in Western Australia,” said Justin Geldard, Coastal and Ocean Researcher, University of Western Australia Ocean Institute. “At UWA we are researching how natural and artificial reef structures can protect coastlines by dissipating wave energy — Hydrus is a key tool in mapping and surveying these underwater structures. The technology makes more efficient use of our funds and ultimately scales up our ability to collect high-resolution data.”

Autonomous underwater robot Hydrus deployed in UWA wave flume tank.

The subsea centre is just one of several investments made by Advanced Navigation as it continues to expand its global reach and capabilities. The company has established headquarters in Sydney with research centres throughout Australia, including Brisbane for aerial drone technology, Canberra for photonic and laser technology and Newcastle for quantum sensing.

In addition to novel autonomous subsea robotics, Advanced Navigation delivers AI-enhanced navigation technologies for land, sea, air and space applications. The company is committed to developing innovative products and systems that will be catalysts of the autonomy revolution.

Top image caption: Hydrus autonomous underwater robot.