Singapore Institute of Technology partners BeeX to launch Autonomous Marine Foundry

The joint lab and demo facility offers enterprises the chance to test-bed and deploy maritime robotics and autonomous underwater systems ‘faster’ at the university’s convenient waterfront location.

The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) has partnered autonomous underwater robotics company BeeX to launch the Autonomous Marine Foundry (AMF) at SIT’s Punggol campus.

The AMF will serve as a joint lab and demo facility for marine technologies, allowing researchers, enterprises, and government stakeholders to test-bed, develop, and deploy maritime robotics and autonomous underwater systems for applications like infrastructure inspection and environment monitoring.

The tech is especially targetted at industries like oil and gas, defence, offshore, and nearshore infrastructure inspection — areas that BeeX has built partnerships, ample knowledge, and expertise in.

At the launch event, BeeX’s Chief Technology Officer Goh Eng Wei shared their goal of providing services that cover the entire AI stack beyond just machine learning models. This can refer to systems from robotic control systems and navigation systems to path planning systems.

“The entire stack is fully computer controlled […] and there’s a level of intelligence on board,” said Goh. “Today this is completely absent from our industry and this is where we are really infusing autonomy into the entire stack and transforming the entire landscape in our marine, offshore, and defence industries.”

The AMF will be hosted at SIT’s waterfront campus within the Punggol Digital District, which is a convenient “easy access” location to test out practical solutions and run underwater demos onsite.

“[The facility] saves us a lot of time [from travelling] and we can go through the product development cycle very quickly,” said Yan-Zhi Tan, technical programs manager at BeeX. “This will help us to achieve the outcomes that are required in the market today.

“When we speak to people from the commercial or defence [industries], everybody has a dream list. For example, they want to be able to deploy two to three drones at the same time and cover a wide area, search, and do the job quickly. These are the kinds of roadmaps that we have an eye on and hope to achieve very soon.”

Tan told CRN Asia that they are keen on having customers visit the facility to conduct demos and understand BeeX’s capabilities in translating research into practical solutions that address real-world operational and environmental challenges.

During a demonstration of an underwater drone, Tan revealed future plans to build out scaled-down structures for relevant industries at the facility, such as offshore structures or mock defence targets, to test out industry applications without having to “travel all the way” to different sites. This is how the AMF aims to accelerate the development and deployment process for enterprises.

What’s more, the collaboration aims to support applied research under various national programs, such as Singapore’s Coastal Protection and Flood Management Research Program. Under this program, BeeX’s underwater drones will be used as sensor platforms for automated monitoring and anomaly detection of coastal protection structures and support national efforts to solve climate and sustainability issues.

Developing Singapore’s talent pipeline

The collaboration also aims to develop SIT students into industry-ready robotics and engineering talent through capstone projects, attachments, mentorship, and hands-on experiences working with BeeX engineers.

Additionally, SIT and BeeX have plans to co-develop technical workshops, hackathons, and applied learning opportunities to strengthen Singapore’s pipeline of talent in emerging technologies and provide industry-relevant exposure.

“Today’s launch reflects SIT’s commitment to partnering with industry to drive meaningful impact to SIT’s education and our industry partners,” said Professor Susanna Leong, deputy president (Academic) and provost at SIT.

“The Autonomous Marine Foundry brings together strategic industry partnerships, applied research, and authentic learning on a single platform to co-create solutions that address real-world challenges and opportunities.

“Beyond advancing maritime autonomy, this collaboration creates rich opportunities for SIT students and staff to participate in.”