Jamie Bennet
Seven startup companies presented novel undersea technology platforms at an event hosted by a U.S. Navy warfare center in Rhode Island.
It was the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport’s first demo day under Northeast Tech Bridge, a program meant to increase the service branch’s access to local innovation ecosystems.
The showcase featured AnyLog, Boston Engineering, Current Lab, Deep Blue Composites, Jaia Robotics, Juice Robotics and XHeme Nanotechnology.
Boston Engineering exhibited a pair of vertical profilers that work to deliver large, customizable volumes of standard or user-specified payloads in vertical water columns for data collection and transmission.
Deep Blue Composites demonstrated a fully composite deep sea pressure housing line as a potential alternative to titanium versions used in unmanned undersea vehicles.
Other industry offerings at the event were micro-autonomous undersea vehicles from Jaia Robotics and a fiberoptic reel system Juice Robotics developed with the University of Rhode Island and Nautilus Defense.
“We’re looking for small business to come up with new ideas and we learn more about industry at these events,” said Ron Vien, technical director of NUWC Division Newport.
“We want to connect NUWC Division Newport engineers and scientists to industry partners to find dual-use solutions to Navy challenges.”
The demo activity took place Sept. 1 at the Narragansett Bay Test Facility in Middletown.
