Texas-based tech startup Alicia Bots has developed magnetic crawler robots capable of autonomously performing anti-fouling hull grooming on ships.

The Roverclean 3.0 magnetic crawler robots, which are guided by artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics, are expected to reduce hull fouling on ships, which will subsequently reduce fuel consumption, costs and, ultimately, carbon emissions.

Source: Alicia Bots

Further, the magnetic crawler robots are also capable of autonomously performing underwater inspections and maintenance tasks — including cargo hold cleaning, firefighting, data collection, corrosion detection, reparation assistance and thickness measurement, among others — on ships and other steel structures.

Alicia Bots is currently teaming with shipping company Lomar to deploy Roverclean 3.0 magnetic crawler robots on as many as 15 of the company’s vessels in a bid to reduce hull fouling to potentially reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.