Kraken expects further contracts with Dive for additional batteries in 2020 and beyond.
Kraken and Dive Technologies entered into an agreement in August 2020 whereby Kraken agreed to supply subsea batteries for the LD-AUV. Under the terms of the agreement, Kraken also acquired a license to build two Dive LD-AUVs for use in Kraken’s growing Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) business. Production of Kraken’s first Dive LD-AUV is currently underway with the first unit being manufactured in the United States. Kraken expects that it will be delivered to Kraken’s Unmanned Maritime Vehicle Facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for sea trials in the spring of 2021.
Dive is led by an experienced team of engineers and managers with a history of AUV product development and program management with the US Navy and major US defense contractors. Dive’s current team has extensive experience designing, building and operating AUVs for domestic and international commercial and defense customers. Dive’s commercial LD-AUV is designed to support long duration missions at full ocean depths and is uniquely positioned to add significant value to Kraken’s Robotics-as-a-Service data collection business.
Kraken and Dive intend to leverage each other’s expertise to bring industry leading AUV solutions to the rapidly growing subsea data acquisition market. For Dive, the company is focused on delivering capable, flexible and reliable large displacement AUVs to defense and commercial customers at a reasonable price with leading commercial-off-the-shelf technology from companies such as Kraken. For Kraken, the company gains access to a large diameter, long mission duration AUV for use in Kraken’s emerging RaaS business. It should be noted that the DIVE LD-AUV is significantly different than Kraken’s ThunderFish XL (TFXL) AUV which is being internally developed by Kraken. TFXL is a rectangular, hovering AUV being developed for subsea resident applications versus the Dive LD-AUV which is geared towards long range, long endurance survey missions.
Kraken Pressure Tolerant Battery Systems
Kraken CEO Comments
“We are excited that the Dive Technologies’ sea trials were successful, and we look forward to working with them as a long term customer for Kraken’s batteries and sonar technology but also as a strategic partner that will enable us both to expand our businesses” said Karl Kenny, Kraken President & CEO. “As we grow the recurring service side of our business, we will leverage our key in house technologies across the underwater vehicle value chain and look to partner with other high quality suppliers who can produce with strong quality and at reasonable costs. We congratulate Jerry and his excellent team at Dive on their recent success and we look forward to working with them.”
DIVE CEO Comments
“Our team is incredibly excited to be working with Kraken Robotics,” said Jerry Sgobbo, Dive President & CEO. “We have always been impressed by the battery and sonar technology coming out of Kraken. It is clear to us that they are an industry leader with a reliable track record, technical pedigree, and overall product capabilities that further Dive’s value proposition to customers worldwide. We look forward to delivering Kraken’s first Dive LD-AUV to Nova Scotia in spring 2021 and to demonstrate the full capabilities of our platform in support of Kraken’s Robot-as-a-Service business.”