A Houston-based robotics company specializing in undersea work is beginning its international expansion in north Europe.
Nauticus Robotics (Nasdaq: KITT) is opening its first international bases in Stavanger, Norway, and Aberdeen, Scotland. CEO Nic Radford confirmed to the Houston Business Journal that the company would be hiring approximately 20 to 25 employees per location. Radford said international production of the robots would take place at the Isle of Wight in England.
“In order to get the diversity of work that our entire technology solution encompasses, we have to think globally from the get-go,” Radford said.
The robotics company produces paired robots for the inspection of offshore energy infrastructure. The pair consists of the topshore Hydronaut — a remotely operated ship — and the Aquanaut, a subsea vehicle that can operate autonomously or remotely by a human. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nauticus holds a patent on vehicles that can be operated remotely or autonomously.
Nauticus’ expansion to the North Sea will help the company expand its robotics to clients with significant offshore energy infrastructure there. The robots will help clients reduce dependence on large, carbon-intensive ships and remote operating vehicles to service installations. Radford noted that operations in Norway and Scotland will take place at shallower depths than the 3,000-meter — or 9,842-foot — maximum that the Aquanaut can reach.
According to Radford, switching from a traditional maintenance fleet to Nauticus products would cut costs by 50% and carbon footprints by 97%.
“Our motto is 'mouse clicks, not joysticks,'” Radford said. “Everyone is worried about corrosion underwater, and it makes more sense to use robotics that you can operate from an office than to wheel out large ships.”
Radford also suggested the company can take advantage of Europe’s leadership in offshore wind- and tidal-energy production to bring ideas back to the United States.
“I fully expect a lot of the advanced techniques that we will develop beyond where we're at currently will be directly applicable back as the U.S. offshore wind infrastructure matures,” Radford said. “So we think that that will pay dividends back here as we increase our service offering on the U.S. coast.”
The international expansion, which Radford said has a third location awaiting clearance, is Nauticus’ first big move since the company went public through a SPAC merger in September 2022. Nauticus merged with New York-based CleanTech Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company looking for deals in clean energy and climate tech, in a deal valued at $561 million.
Radford said the company is accelerating after going public.
“Being public has given us really the ground to stretch the company's legs,” Radford said. “A lot of our clientele are Fortune 500 companies, which like to see the staying power. We're still relatively small company.”
A team of ex-NASA engineers founded Nauticus as Houston Mechatronics in 2014. The company develops subsea robots and works with government and commercial clients through a robotics-as-a-service model. Radford previously led spaceflight and defense robotics engineering efforts while working at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
In October, Nauticus landed a multimillion-dollar defense contract with the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit to develop an amphibious, unmanned unit.
