What started as a sketch on a napkin has quickly evolved into an autonomous underwater drone with the potential to make waves in the defence industry. Two Waterloo, Ont. entrepreneurs are hoping their technology can transform the way underwater infrastructure is monitored and protected. They’re off to a good start considering they have already secured their first commercial customer. Samuel Scrivens and Shrey Naphade, both graduates of Carleton University, launched their company, Pelagos, less than a year ago. Since then, the pair have developed a working prototype of an autonomous underwater vehicle they call Vantage. The device was built largely in the garage of Naphade’s parents’ home in Waterloo, where the founders moved in several months ago to get their business off the ground. “We moved into my parents’ place five, six months ago. We had no money. We had no funding. We had no backing. We just had our parents’ support,” Naphade said. The goal is to create a drone that can be deployed quickly, operate underwater independently and make decisions without requiring someone to control its every move. “We want to make this thing backpack-portable, rapidly deployable and persistent for maritime security and maritime inspection,” Scrivens said. Potential applications include protecting ports and critical underwater infrastructure, monitoring protected marine areas and inspecting the hulls of ships. Naphade said having a drone carry out those inspections could also reduce the need to send people into potentially dangerous underwater environments. “I want this drone to be able to do that autonomously, so we don’t have to risk those human lives,” he said. The founders also envision a future in which Vantage can remain underwater for extended periods. “Instead of recovering the drone, it goes underwater, docks underwater, fully charges up, and it continues its mission,” Naphade said. That capability is still in development, but the prototype has already been tested in saltwater, completing approximately an hour of untethered operation. Those early results have helped Pelagos secure its first commercial customer: U.S.-based ocean technology company Tekmara. The two companies will work together to use the drone for biodiversity research, monitoring protected marine areas and maritime security. “They produce infrastructure for underwater recharging and data link in extreme environments, remote environments,” Scrivens said of Tekmara. The partnership could also help address what Scrivens sees as a gap in current maritime security operations. “Right now, maritime security is not persistent. You have to have patrol teams, you have to have ships. You have to have assets, critical assets that are extremely expensive,” he said. They also have their sights set on the Canadian Armed Forces as a potential future customer. With the federal government working to strengthen Canada’s defence industry and invest in domestic capabilities, the entrepreneurs believe the timing could be right for their ambitious project. For now, the two founders are focused on improving the technology, knowing they’re just getting their feet wet.
