Verlume has joined with consortium partners to progress the development of an autonomous underwater robot that moves like a fish to enable efficient offshore inspection regimes in harsh and hard-to-reach environments.The biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), named RoboFish, is made up of several self-contained modules with self-managed battery and actuator control for full-body, autonomous movement around underwater structures. Verlume will supply an underwater power system for charging, as well as an integrated intelligent battery management system. Both of which have been designed for the harsh underwater environment. The RoboFish research consortium was initially formed of partners Verlume, The University of York, The University of Strathclyde, PicSea, the Supergen ORE Hub, and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. Through outreach activities, the consortium is expanding. The first RoboFish prototype was completed in summer 2020 and research to improve it and apply it to new applications is ongoing.
