UK company HonuWorx has unveiled plans for a fleet of Loggerhead uncrewed submersibles for use in the energy subsea services market.
In an industry first, the Aberdeen-based outfit deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from a fully autonomous and uncrewed mothership submarine, all controlled from shore via the cloud.
The outfit said the test proved the viability of its submersible system known as Loggerhead, which removes the need for large fossil-fuelled surface ships to transport and deploy subsea robots such as ROVs. HonuWorx now plans to develop a fleet of Loggerheads to capture a 20% share of the $3.2bn global market for subsea inspection, repair and maintenance across oil and gas, offshore wind and defence within the next decade.
The submersibles, which can be controlled from anywhere around the world, are all-electric and ultra-long endurance for travelling directly from port to a worksite.
HonuWorx said it is now geared for rapid growth, kicking off the first phase of a £30m investment raise in the coming months, construction of the first Loggerhead commercial pilot system in 2025, and plans to treble headcount over the next two-three years.
Through wider expansion, by 2030 the firm plans to develop a fleet of at least 10 Loggerhead units, with a longer-term goal of having 50 of the submersibles operating around the world.
The all-electric sub harnesses advances in autonomy and satellite communications systems to save the annual emissions equivalent of 4000 petrol or diesel cars per vessel it displaces, while greatly reducing cost and improving safety by moving crews onshore.
During testing off Canada’s Pacific coastline in December 2023, HonuWorx deployed a Seatronics VALOR ROV from a large autonomous underwater vehicle provided by Cellula Robotics in Vancouver.
The entire operation was controlled from shore, harnessing satellite communications and HonuWorx’s proprietary cloud-based software.
The project was supported by energy majors TotalEnergies and Shell alongside the Net Zero Technology Centre. Additional technology field testing has been delivered over the last 10 months including the system’s state-of-the-art communications buoy and variable autonomy architecture.
Chief executive Lee Wilson said: “HonuWorx was created because the economics, safety and carbon emissions of subsea work could only be meaningfully improved by removing the large ships needed to deploy divers or subsea remotely operated vehicles.
“We are going to change the way the world works underwater, accelerating the energy transition, and enabling the safe and sustainable scaling of subsea robotics for a growing blue economy.”
Subsea lead for TotalEnergies E&P UK Greg Jones said: “TotalEnergies has a long-established interest in robotics and autonomous systems for safe operations.
“Loggerhead is an example of the next stage of subsea autonomous systems, which via our participation in NZTC, we have been keen to support.
“This system has the potential to support decarbonisation, improve safety and lower costs for subsea inspection and maintenance and we look forward to seeing how it develops further.”