Of course, a 22-year-old is fixing a hundred billion-dollar problem for the global shipping industry. A startup called ScrubMarine, run by founder Rohith Devanathan, just got over seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds from investors. The backers include SFC Capital and PXN Ventures, plus some cash from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. The company is based in Edinburgh but also has engineers in Whitehaven. They are building robots to clean slime off ship hulls, an issue called biofouling.
The whole point is to stop using divers for this nasty underwater work, which is apparently dangerous and expensive. Their main robot is called the Turtle. It is supposed to be light and use bubble technology to scrape off gunk without wrecking the paint. They are also working on a bigger carrier robot named the Whale to haul these Turtles out to offshore vessels. The founder claims the buildup of algae and barnacles costs the shipping world a stupid amount of money every year in extra fuel. He started the company while still a university student studying robotics.
Some ex-shipping exec and a former Apple boss are among the private investors throwing money at this. The company’s totally chill business plan thinks it will pull in tens of millions in revenue within a few years. They are almost done with a commercial prototype and want to start real trials soon. The promise is less fuel burn, lower emissions, and not getting divers killed. It is a neat idea, but we will see if a robot clinging to a hull in open water actually works as well as the funding announcement does.
The whole point is to stop using divers for this nasty underwater work, which is apparently dangerous and expensive. Their main robot is called the Turtle. It is supposed to be light and use bubble technology to scrape off gunk without wrecking the paint. They are also working on a bigger carrier robot named the Whale to haul these Turtles out to offshore vessels. The founder claims the buildup of algae and barnacles costs the shipping world a stupid amount of money every year in extra fuel. He started the company while still a university student studying robotics.
Some ex-shipping exec and a former Apple boss are among the private investors throwing money at this. The company’s totally chill business plan thinks it will pull in tens of millions in revenue within a few years. They are almost done with a commercial prototype and want to start real trials soon. The promise is less fuel burn, lower emissions, and not getting divers killed. It is a neat idea, but we will see if a robot clinging to a hull in open water actually works as well as the funding announcement does.
