This super-sized clownfish robot could be coming to waterways in the Middle East

This super-sized clownfish robot could be coming to waterways in the Middle East

The world’s oceans, lakes and rivers are under increasing pressure from climate change, increasing demand, urbanization and pollution, threatening their ability to sustain life.

Without better data to understand the health of increasingly stressed waterways, the fight to save this most precious resource will be ineffective, says Simeon Pieterkosky, co-founder of technology company Aquaai. “Almost all waterways are polluted to a point where the ecosystem cannot balance back,” he explained.

Aquaai aims to fill that information gap using fish-like drones that collect data from the underwater environment. Powered by batteries, they are designed to look and swim like fish, with their bodies and tails swiping from side to side as they navigate the water. With orange, white and black neoprene skins, they resemble the clownfish stars in the 2003 hit movie “Finding Nemo.”

The standard version is about 4 feet long (1.3 meters) and weighs 65 pounds (30 kilograms) and can be equipped with cameras and sensors to measure metrics such as oxygen, salinity and pH levelsPieterkosky, who has animatronic backgrounds for horror films, is motivated to build a robot after his eight-year-old daughter learned about the ocean crisis and asked him to help protect the ocean. He says it’s important that drones can integrate into natural habitats – swimming among other creatures without disturbing them and moving around obstacles smoothly.

The company has deployed its technology in California, where it was founded, and in Norway, where it has subsidiaries. It has operated in freshwater and saltwater, near dams, and in harbors and fish farms, checking things like water quality and fish health. Many fish farms use fixed sensors to monitor water quality, but CEO and co-founder Liane Thompson says this can be inefficient in giant pens, where fish may congregate far from the sensors; instead Aquaai robots swim with the fish, collecting data wherever they go.

The technology could also be used in the Middle East, a region currently battling water shortages. The Middle East and North Africa are home to only 1% of the world’s freshwater resources, and many countries drain water from underground reservoirs, largely to irrigate farmland.

Thompson and Pieterkosky, who are married, have relocated to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and last October, Aquaai was accepted into the “company building” program at Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem Hub71.

Thompson said his technology could be used in the region for water management, sustainable aquaculture operations, detecting abandoned fishing gear and monitoring coral reef health. Aquaai is currently upgrading its underwater drone and is in talks with various government agencies about trying to use the latest version.

Thompson says that around the world, water sources are usually monitored manually, which is slow, labor intensive and may only provide sporadic data. He believes better automation is desperately needed.

Automation “should play a key role in future water management by increasing efficiency, reducing waste and improving data collection to make better decisions,” said Robert C. Brears, founder of the water safety platform Our Future Water, in an email.

Brears, who is not involved with Aquaai, said the company’s drones are a non-invasive and cost-effective method of real-time data collection.

However, Aquaai has a few hurdles to clear before its fish-like boats will be seen sailing the world’s waterways. It has raised about $1.6 million in funding, but mostly relies on several venture capital firms, angel investors, family offices, strategic corporate investors and paid trials. “We need capital to commercialize,” Thompson said, but “there are very few people who are really willing to support those who are doing frontier technologies in waterways.”

Water technology will receive less than 3% of the $48 billion in climate technology funding in 2023, according to business database Dealroom.

There are a handful of other agencies and companies that develop underwater drones for various purposes. In 2021, a Chinese company introduced a robotic arowana fish full of sensors at a military convention in Beijing, and several oil and gas companies are using underwater drones to inspect their projects.

Aquaai hopes more funding will follow. “Investors should really wake up,” Pieterkosky said. “This is really about a last-ditch effort to really save the things that actually keep humans alive.”