The NOC’s Marine Robotics Innovation Centre has partnered with start-up company Wight Ocean on a successful proposal into the UK’s Defence and Security Accelerator’s (DASA) Map the Gap funding programme.
The project will develop an amphibious bottom crawler to navigate and transit water crossings to gather near real-time data.
The NOC will take the role of scientific advisor on this project.
Through this collaboration Wight Ocean has also joined the NOC’s Marine Robotics Innovation Centre as a partner.
Graham Lester founded the Isle of Wight-based company in 2019.
The firm helps customers in selecting underwater technologies where capability gaps exist, offering marine robotics solutions, systems, and also sensors.
It also partners with underwater equipment manufacturers and software suppliers to provide unique solutions that meet customer needs.
Aidan Thorn , Innovation Centre manager, said:
“This collaboration with Wight Ocean is the perfect example of why the NOC’s Marine Robotics Innovation Centre was established.
“We have worked in partnership with Graham at Wight Ocean to develop a successful funding application and are now contributing NOC expertise into a project with an industry partner to satisfy end-user requirements.
Graham Lester – owner, director, Wight Ocean, also said:
“We are excited to be joining the Marine Robotics Innovation Centre.
“We successfully teamed with the NOC on the DASA ‘Map the Gap’ Challenge earlier this year and look forward to increasing our collaboration with the NOC on other projects.”