The first high-speed underwater survey robot to outperform human experts

Dr Brett Kettle, a pioneer in coral reef protection with more than three decades of experience, has led critical advances in oil spill management, coastal development, ship grounding prosecutions, and seagrass protection during dredging.

His expert testimony has shaped key policy decisions, including the world's largest settlement for ship damage in a coral reef area, and he has conducted the largest ever reef remediation project in the Great Barrier Reef.

In 2017, in the wake of ongoing Crown of Thorns Starfish outbreaks, Dr Kettle began developing a high-speed, broad-scale underwater visual survey tool to document the Great Barrier Reef at unprecedented scale. His vision was to use emerging technologies—such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)—to accelerate the analysis of collected data and document more of the reef than ever before.

Flying Fish Technologies has a fleet of Vertigo3 gliders ready for rapid deployment worldwide and sits at the forefront of underwater ecological surveying.

The gliders can be transported internationally within standard carry-on luggage limits and safely deployed from a range of small to medium sized vessels in a variety of weather conditions.

The multidisciplinary team combines marine biology, AI/ML, engineering, and mechatronics expertise with practical skills as skippers, pilots, and spotters.