XPRIZE:
The Final Round
Mission Control Life Webcam
We are almost there! The Arggonauts are working under high pressure to complete preparations for the finals in November. We’ve made it to the nine finalists. Now we are determined to come out as number one!
Arggonauts are the only German team remaining in the competition. There is a lot of money at stake, but more important is fame, glory and worldwide recognition for our technology. We want everybody to know about our capability to survey the deep sea with our swarm of Great Divers, our autonomous high-tech U-boat . The ocean is the land on our planet where we will find natural resources and technological challenges like nowhere else, not even in space.
The XPrize challenges for the finals are to
- launch a vessel with restricted human intervention
- explore competition area at depths of 2000 and 4000 meters in a limited time
- produce a high resolution bathymetric map
- produce images of a specified object
- identify archaeological, biological or geological features
- track a chemical or biological signal to its source (bonus prize).
An international team from countries around the world work together and form the Arggonauts. They apply highest technology from companies like Evonik, Bosch, Intel, Dell, and Zeiss. Follow us to the finals of the XPrize and see High Performance Innovation triumph!
Arggonauts’ Timeline
2016
JUN
ARGGONAUTS Apply for Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE and Become one Among 32 Teams to Move On.
2016
DEC
Bestselling Author Frank Schätzing and ARGGONAUTS Team Leader Gunnar Brink Describe Project in Leading German Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
2017
FEB
Fraunhofer Executive Board Grants Project Funding
2017
MAR
ARGGONAUTS Selected Among 20 Teams Qualified for the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE Semifinals
2017
APR
Leading German Trade Journal Handelsblatt Names ARGGONAUTS One of 25 Developments in German Laboratories that Will Change the World.
2017
JUN
Water Strider’s New Concept for Autonomous Recovery of Great Diver Demonstrated Publicly
2017
AUG
Great Diver and Water Strider Successfully Tested in the Baltic Sea
2017
NOV
General Systems Test in the Atlantic Ocean (Northern Spain)
2018
JAN
XPRIZE First Competition Round (Semifinals)
2018
MAR
ARGGONAUTS Selected Among 9 Teams to Qualify for The Finals.
2018
2018
FALL
Final Competition of Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. Time and Date TBA
2019
JAN
Further Development and Commercialisation of ARGGONAUTS Technology by Spin-off Aronnax Maritime Technologies
2019
MAR
Oceanology International Exhibition in London. Introduction to the Public of Finalists and Winners of Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE
2019
JUN
Next Challenge: Revisiting the Columbus Route
Foto: Daniel Kunzfeld
Why The Ocean?
Conventional marine technology is too slow, too expensive and too inflexible to allow real breakthrough in ocean exploration. We need new ideas and real innovation instead of overengineering and minor improvements. We need a Game Changer!
ARGGONAUTS will push the boundaries of today’s marine technology by drastically reducing the time, costs and effort required to carry out deep-sea expeditions.
Foto: Daniel Kunzfeld
High Performance Innovation
If you want to change the game, you can not stick to the rules: This is why we have created a completely new approach to agile product development accelerating our processes and enabling radical innovation.
Using this technique of eXtreme Innovation, we designed and built a complete fleet of AUVs and autonomous transportation vehicles in just few months.
Foto: Daniel Kunzfeld
Our Supporters
For our mission, we work closely with leading global specialists in industry and science – with these partners, we will make this project a joint success:
Prime Sponsor
Sponsor
Partner and Prime Suppliers
