Discrete and Process Automation

Underwater robot quietly follows submarines for extended missions

25 April 2025

A California-based defense company has built a robot capable of spying on underwater submarines for years without detection.

Anduril’s artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled Seabed Sentry undersea sensor network is designed to advance and enhance maritime capabilities with its persistent underwater monitoring and real-time communication.
Source: AndurilSource: Anduril

According to Anduril, Seabed Sentry uses AI to provide accurate, persistent autonomous awareness on the seafloor for both commercial and military customers.

Because current underwater sensing and communication technologies work slowly and separately, Seabed Sentry was designed to fill connectivity and perception gaps, thus improving maritime awareness and allowing effective action.

Anduril suggests that the technology can last from months to years, operating at depths greater than 0.3 miles and featuring a payload capacity of over 0.5 cubic meters.

Further, Seabed Sentry’s system of deep-sea nodes work without cables. Instead, the nodes can sense, process and share information from the sea floor in real time.

Powered by the Lattice AI software platform, the Seabed Sentry can be deployed by autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to create a defense grid, thus supporting the protection of significant maritime regions and infrastructure.

Possible applications for the Seabed Sentry include seabed surveys, building patterns of marine life, ensuring port security, protecting infrastructure, conducting anti-submarine warfare and engaging in anti-surface warfare.

Additionally, Seabed Sentry uses Ultra Maritime’s Sea Spear, which enables long-range sensing capabilities in remote underwater environments.

The company added that the Seabed Sentry system can be reused. Once deployed, the system could also be used to track submarines to potentially counter threats from China, Russia and North Korea.

To contact the author of this article, email mdonlon@globalspec.com


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