Beam develops world’s first AI-driven autonomous underwater vehicle

Monday, September 23 2024

General – AI-driven

Beam, a leader in high-tech offshore wind services, has reached a remarkable milestone by deploying the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicle driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

This state-of-the-art technology has already been successfully employed in inspecting jacket structures at Seagreen wind farm—Scotland’s largest offshore site and a joint venture between SSE Renewables, TotalEnergies, and PTTEP.

Beam’s innovative AI-driven technology is set to revolutionise marine technology and underwater robotics. The vehicle can conduct complex underwater inspections without any human intervention, significantly increasing the efficiency and reducing the costs of underwater surveys and inspections.

Offshore wind site inspections are traditionally manual, labour-intensive processes. Beam’s AI-powered vehicle offers a fully autonomous solution, allowing data to be streamed directly back to shore.

This shift enables offshore workers to focus on more complex tasks and reduces inspection timelines by up to 50%, cutting operational costs substantially. In addition to improving efficiency, Beam’s technology also enhances the quality of inspection data and enables the creation of 3D reconstructions of assets alongside visual data.

This deployment is a major step in Beam’s roadmap for autonomous technology. The company is set to roll out this AI-driven solution across its fleet of DP2 vessels, ROVs, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) throughout 2025 and 2026.