RMS Niagara with Boxfish ROV: History and Confronting Environmental Challenges
RMS Niagara and its Story The tragic tale of the RMS Niagara dates back 84 years, when the trans-Pacific liner met its fate near New Zealand’s Bream Head. On June…
Boxfish R&D is always up for a challenge! Having launched the ARV-i in partnership with Transmark Subsea in 2021, they’re continuing to develop state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology.
Lead R&D ROV Robotics Engineer, Jamie Bell, is a vital member of this team. So in our first employee spotlight of 2022, we’re discussing AUV’s, ROV robotics and future tech with him.
Jamie has a background in autonomous navigation, robotic manipulation and multi-modal sensing. His previous experience includes creating driverless vehicles, fruit harvesting robots and an underwater sensor system.
What interests you about this autonomous navigation and ROV robotics engineering?
I originally became interested in robotics 20 odd years ago, waiting for the bus year after year and thinking there’s got to be a better way. That got me into autonomous navigation, which I’ve been working on for most of my career.
How do you and the Boxfish team working on AUVs approach the technical challenge of autonomy?
The approach to autonomous navigation at Boxfish is ambitious and cutting edge. We are taking the most up to date methods and applying them in difficult conditions. It is hard to get more challenging than underwater for autonomous navigation. Furthermore, the pipeline of problems that we’re looking to solve is very exciting, and people will be surprised when they see what we can do.
What future possibilities and applications do you see for AUV?
I think the use of AUVs will continue to expand to assist with the management and maintenance of all subsea infrastructure. Fleets of AUVs will do more and more useful work across all underwater industries.
Thanks, Jamie, for all your hard work and dedication.
We love having you as part of the Boxfish team.
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RMS Niagara and its Story The tragic tale of the RMS Niagara dates back 84 years, when the trans-Pacific liner met its fate near New Zealand’s Bream Head. On June…
The 2024 Hi-Tech Awards saw an unprecedented number of entries from a diverse range of technology sectors across New Zealand. David Downs, Chair of the Hi-Tech Trust, emphasized the growing…