Blueye Robotics Equipping the Entire Norwegian Coast Guard Fleet with Underwater ROVs

Blueye Robotics has been awarded a contract to supply the Norwegian Coast Guard with underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) systems. Blueye Robotics has equipped the entire fleet of Coast Guard vessels operated by the Norwegian Coast Guard with their Blueye X3 model, which was launched in 2021.

The intention behind the large ROV order for the Norwegian Coast Guard was to supply their Diving Team with more eyes below the surface in addition to carrying sensors for improved navigation and data collection. The Blueye X3 ROV will be used by the mother ship and from MOBs (man overboard boats) for several use cases, including;

• Securing evidence of an environmental crime
• Search for drugs or other objects on ship hulls
• Search for missing people
• Inspection of own vessels prior to leaving harbor (searching for unwanted objects)
• Control of historical monuments at sea
• Inspections of ships after suspected grounding
• Substitute for simple dive operations

Image credit: Blueye Robotics

The Norwegian Coast Guard chose the solution from Blueye Robotics because of its superior ease of use, sensor modularity capabilities, robustness in extreme environments, ability to operate from 2+ ft. of water to open ocean, portability (9kg weight), and battery capacity (4 hours of operational time). The possibility to easily create dive reports directly in the Blueye App was also reported as a winning feature. In addition to delivering the hardware, Blueye Robotics has provided on-site training and access to an online help center library of articles and videos.

“Blueye Robotics has developed portable, robust, and user-friendly technology since 2015. We are incredibly proud to be the chosen partner for the Norwegian Coast Guard. This demonstrates a demand for smaller-sized user-friendly ROVs and fuels the Blueye Robotics team to keep developing high-quality products and solutions for our growing base of customers.” Christian Gabrielsen, CEO of Blueye Robotics

Image credit: Blueye Robotics

Blueye Robotics X3s with sensors and payloads such as DVL for underwater positioning, a dual-frequency multi-beam sonar for navigation and extended line-of-sight, and a gripper was delivered to the Norwegian Coast Guard in February 2023.

Blueye Robotics is a Norwegian company based in Trondheim with roots in the highly renowned Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (AMOS) at NTNU. Since 2015, the overarching design goals have been exceptional ease of use, portability, and robustness. The first underwater ROV model was launched in 2019, and since then, more than 1000 systems have been delivered to different industries in over 50 different countries.