Issue 39 Unmanned Systems Technology August/September 2021 Maritime Robotics Mariner l Simulation tools focus l MRS MR-10 and MR-20 l UAVs insight l HFE International GenPod l Exotec Skypod l Autopilots focus l Aquaai Mazu

23 The Mariner is also being developed with complete autonomy in mind, so that it will be ready when regulations permit fully autonomous operations at sea. The sensor integration and autonomy features come from in-house software development, the latter including a fully customisable navigation system and decision support tools. With a background in military UAVs gained while working with, among others, Sweden’s Cybaero on a project in the United Arab Emirates, Hovstein started Maritime Robotics in 2005, originally intending to continue with hand-launched fixed-wing UAVs for use by soldiers at the platoon level. It soon became apparent, however, that the framework to support the development and operation of this category of military UAVs was not yet in place in the company’s home market. Realising that the core capability lay in the autopilot and the wider control system, the company decided to look at another market. “We saw that the maritime domain was much easier to enter in Norway,” Hovstein says. By 2006, the company had a working prototype of a 6 m vessel undergoing tests on the Trondheim Fjord, on the shore of which the company is sited. Hovstein confesses to having somewhat naive expectations at that time. “I envisaged that the world market would almost be waiting on the other side of the fjord! It didn’t really happen that way, but our naivety and stubbornness helped us,” he says. “We didn’t know what we couldn’t do, so we just did it, and it triggered a lot of interest.” Initial interest came from oil & gas industry operators looking for ways to distribute seismic sensors over wide areas simultaneously, using USVs operating from mother ships. Maritime Robotics began talks with its first client in this sector, Petroleum Geophysical Systems (PGS) in 2007, and Hovstein made the first sketch of what was to become the Mariner in a notebook on a flight back from a conference in South Korea that year. Maritime Robotics delivered the first Mariner Mk1 to PGS in 2011, and it remains in operation. Subsequently, Hovstein says, Maritime Robotics Mariner | Dossier I envisaged the world market to be waiting on the other side of the fjord. It didn’t happen that way but our naivety helped us so we just went and did it Unmanned Systems Technology | August/September 2021 The Mariner supports a wide range of survey missions with multiple sensors in customised integrations, and is intended eventually to evolve into a cargo transport platform (Images courtesy of Maritime Robotics) A diesel-driven Hamilton water jet, and twin electric stern thrusters and a bow thruster from Torqueedo, provide a flexible propulsion and manoeuvring system