Armach Robotics, Inc. (Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA) says it has reached another milestone in its mission to deliver a sustainable and scalable solution in managing biofouling for the global shipping industry.
Following a successful period of demonstrating the effectiveness of its hull cleaning robots with commercial shipping operators, Armach has announced the launch of EverClean. The new service delivers clean hulls for ship owners and operators, along with the added value of perpetual hull condition monitoring.
According to the company, the additional focus and pressure on ship operators to work more intensively towards decarbonizing and biofouling management has boosted demand for cost-effective and sustainable solutions. As such, EverClean enters the market at the right time to meet this need, with demonstrable success in maintaining a ship in an always-clean state.
Managing biofouling on ships has long been a challenge, with its associated problems including vessel scheduling, maintenance, increased hull deterioration, and reduced efficiency. This can affect commercial interests as well as the environment, including higher emissions through drag and the transportation of invasive species.
Shortly after being highlighted as a “solution to watch” while being shortlisted by the Ocean Opportunity Lab and World Ocean Council’s as part of their Biofouling Innovation Challenge, Armach says it successfully proved the concept of its robotic hull cleaning system with a select number of ship operators.
Thanks to sophisticated navigation technology, the hull service robot intelligently navigates its way over the hull, and, similar to georeferencing, maps the condition to its appropriate the on-hull location. This ensures cleaning each hull section without an accidental repeat. In turn, this provides EverClean with a competitive advantage and ship owners and operators with a proven, cost-effective way to ensure a clean hull at all times, along with an accurate hull condition survey after each clean.
Source: Armach, www.armachrobotics.com.