The ARGGONAUTS reached XPRIZE final round!
As the only German team in the international Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition, the team Arggonauts from the Fraunhofer Institute IOSB in Karlsruhe has qualified for the final round. The Arggonauts under the leadership of Gunnar Brink belong to nine successful teams who made their way to the final round – from originally 32 teams starting the competition in 2015. Their task is to map the bottom of the ocean at a depth of several thousand meters and take high quality photographs – using autonomous systems. An important requirement of the competition is to reach this goal at low cost.
In the final round, the Arggonauts will compete directly against the other teams in a field test. Within 24 hours, their self-developed underwater robots «Great Divers» will have to measure at least 250 square meters at a depth of 4.000 meters, find objects and take pictures that are worthy of an award. After fulfillment of this task, the «Great Divers» will be collected by autonomously operating catamarans. The final round is planned to take place in autumn 2018.
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.
Beyond Awards
As the only German participant in Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, we create global visibility for marine high tech “Made in Germany” – but our vision is much bigger.
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
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.
Marine High Tech Made In Germany
ARGGONAUTS is a German based, born global Deep Tech project, aiming at changing the game of ocean exploration. Launched as a research project of Fraunhofer IOSB we part of the world-reowned Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. 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:
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