Kraken Robotics, a Newfoundland and Labrador-based ocean technology company, is getting some help from the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) to support the development of the company’s ThunderFish XL Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.
The NRCC is supplying $2.9 million through its Industrial Research Assistance Program, Kraken revealed in a press release Monday.
According to the release, the money will be flowed to the company over a 26-month period and is a non-repayable contribution.
Karl Kenny, Kraken’s president and CEO, said in the press release the NRCC has supported the company for many years, enabling its development and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).
Kenny noted AUVs have evolved from an emerging, niche technology to a viable solution and an established part of underwater operations in both military and commercial applications.
“By combining our advanced sensor technologies with cutting edge artificial intelligence algorithms, it is our objective to deliver a cost-effective AUV solution that is truly autonomous as opposed to being simply automated,” he said.
The ThunderFish XL (TFXL) is an advancement on the company’s earlier models of the ThunderFish Alpha AUV,” the company explained in its press release. “TFXL is a rectangle-shaped, hovering AUV being developed for subsea resident applications.”
The company added it is switching its primary focus from selling AUVs, to building a fleet of AUVs to provide robotics as a service.
"On the service side the main focus is . . . providing an end to end service of planning and performing the surveys and then providing a complete data package for the customer," explained Shauna Cotie, marketing manager for Kraken.
“We expect that this will provide Kraken with a unique and valuable market position,” said the company’s president.
Building from the company’s previously-developed ThunderFish Alpha AUV, the ThunderFish XL AUV will have a larger payload capacity.
According to the company, it will have an increased depth rating to 6,000 metres and carry an array of sensors and custom payload modules, including Kraken’s AquaPix Synthetic Aperture Sonar, SeaVision 3D laser profiler, SeaThrust rim-driven thrusters, and SeaPower pressure tolerant batteries.
“All of these will be integrated with advanced artificial intelligence algorithms onboard the vehicle. In addition, the modular design will allow for rapid sensor reconfiguration and battery replacement,” the company noted in its press release.
Kraken will also develop a conceptual design for a multi-module docking solution allowing TFXL to operate underwater for longer periods to complete missions.
Despite COVID-19 and the challenges the pandemic presented for businesses throughout Atlantic Canada, the Mount Pearl-based company has been having a year of successes.
Just a month ago Kraken landed a $40-million contract to provide sonar technology for the Danish Navy, beating out several other major military contractors for the work.
Kraken Robotics is a publicly-traded company, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX-V: PNG, OTCQB: KRKNF)
In 2020 the company posted its first profit, and its financial report for the first quarter of 2020 showed overall revenues of $6.4 million, compared to $1.4 million in revenue for the same period in 2019.
