The story of how we got started
A long time ago, deep inside a arctic fjord, a man sat and manually operated robots for inspecting and cleaning the nets in fish farming. His irritation of doing meaningless and repetitive tasks grew more and more to the point when he realized something had to change, and it was not him; the method had to change! Our story starts some years back.
Dive in...
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Mikkel reaches out to get the company he works for, trying to see if they can bring the idea to life. Mikkel immediately left his resignation notice after a declinal.
So now he started doing underwater inspection work again, manually with an ROV, just like he wanted to quit doing. But this time, he could at least do it properly and deliver good documentation. As a bonus, this would finance the start of the development.
"Ballangen Sjofarm gained belief in me at this time, so they gave me enough inspection work to overcome the first hard years."
Mikkel, founder.
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“At this stage, we started testing the first concept prototypes. We collaborated with specialists from Sintef Ocean and built different prototypes. It was exiting times, and our testing established proof that the concept with constant cleaning worked and prevented the biofilm of marine fouling from growing on the nets.”
Mikkel, Founder of Probotic
"Testing our first concept, we realized that the magnetic idea we had patented might not be the best way to do it after all. We found it technically complex because the fish-pens nets have ropes on the outside securing everything. But mainly, the constant net movements in severe weather made it hard. But eventually, the dealbreaker for us was that we couldn't have 100% control of the outer magnetic -plates. This means we couldn't trust the solution. There is already too much trash in the oceans. Now it was time to reboot; which concept would be robust enough?"
The name "Probotic" is born. And with lessons learned and solutions in sight the work continues in the right direction. With a grant of 130 000 EUR from Innovation Norway a new patent and design is produced and tested.
ROV technology. The problem and the solution. We wanted to use technology that we knew worked, using the competence we had gained from our ROV business. But one of the main issues with using thrusters for propulsion is the entangling of seaweed and long-term reliability. So, trying to overcome this, we ordered all types of thruster propulsion we could find in the market and started rigid testing.
Probotic
[ri-loom]
To relight or rekindle (a light, flame, etc.)
Design and prototype is evolving simultaneously as serious investors capitalize their believes in the idea. The Probotic team expands with both technical engineer and software developer. Tests show that we are closing in on a robust concept.
Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF)
to the development of our
Autonomous Net Inspection concept the A2-Inspect.
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“QUOTE custumer.”
Lars R. Lovund - Chief Adviser FHF
Today's method for cleaning fish nets is a challenge for the fish farming industry on several levels. For both
environment, fish health, and resources. The systems are still partly manually operated, using water pressure which
causes the biofilm to release from the net. Then the biofilm is flushed directly into the net and causes a bad
environment for food production.
Probotic will develop an autonomous drone for cleaning fish farm nets. The drone control and report the net
conditions autonomously, and it hinders the creation of biofilm on the fish-nets by continuously cleaning. The drones are
only paused by battery-charging or sent home by the operator if inspection or work is needed in other places in the
farms or other crucial operations like delizing or net-changing. Resulting in cleaner food production and directly
reducing climate emissions. And at the same time, it ensures better animal welfare and reduces operational costs.
“QUOTE custumer.”
BOSS BOSSERE
Our prototypes are soon a product built for a lifetime with autonomous work in the ocean. The system will be rented out as a service; this ensures our sustainable goals and gives us control over the life-cycle of all bits and pieces in production. Also, this means we are responsible for the product to function as expected and let the customers focus on their values.
“The time is now. Climate changes are not waiting for us. To secure a sustainable and healthy food production is essential and I can not think of a better purpose to use my time and effort upon."
Mikkel, Founder of Probotic
“QUOTE custumer.”
BOSS BOSSERE