Imagine a robot working continuously for months, alone, in total darkness at a depth of 3,000 metres, where the water pressure is equivalent to having 100 cars above your head. It’s not science fiction: we went to Trieste, to the Saipem base, to see it live.
It is called Flatfish and is an underwater drone approximately 4 meters long, designed to inspect strategic infrastructures lying on the seabed: gas pipelines, telecommunications cables, hydrocarbon extraction plants. Essential, invisible structures that must be constantly monitored.
In the video you will discover everything behind this technology: from how the drone is first tested in an ultra-realistic simulator, which looks like a video game but is not at all, up to the actual water test. And then the detail that struck us most: thanks to a docking station on the seabed, the drone recharges itself, just like a smartphone with wireless charging, and can remain operational underwater for a whole year.
But it’s not just the Flatfish: in the video we show you the entire fleet of drones, including the Hydrone-R, which set a world record by remaining operational for over eight consecutive months in the North Sea.
Less risk for workers, less costs, less environmental impact: and above all, the possibility of exploring one of the most unknown parts of our planet. Watch the video to find out how this underwater technological ecosystem really works.
