More than 40 remotely controlled ARGOS ROV deployments completed from ACUA Ocean’s Pioneer USV in Plymouth
ACUA Ocean and Forssea Robotics have successfully completed a three-week integration trial combining Forssea Robotics’ ARGOS remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with ACUA Ocean’s Pioneer uncrewed surface vessel (USV), demonstrating the capability to conduct remotely controlled subsea operations from an uncrewed platform.
The integration also incorporated positioning support from Sonardyne, using a pole-mounted Mini-Ranger 2 system to support accurate subsea positioning during operations.
The trials, conducted in Plymouth under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), involved more than 40 deployments of the 170kg ARGOS ROV.
The trials, conducted over three weeks in Plymouth, involved completed more than 40 deployments of the 170kg ARGOS ROV with every launch, dive and recovery commanded remotely from shore. This integration targeted a persistent gap in the offshore inspection and survey market: the ability to conduct robust, high-quality ROV operations from a vessel that can remain safely and reliably on station in conditions that regularly interrupt conventional operations. ARGOS was repeatedly launched, flown and recovered from USV Pioneer under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA)- an integration and multiple launch-and-recovery sequences. The ROV-USV deployment included operations in 2m waves south of the breakwater with no impact on the ROV.
This integration targeted a persistent gap in the offshore inspection and survey market: the ability to conduct robust, high-quality ROV operations from a vessel that can remain safely and reliably on station in conditions that regularly interrupt conventional operations. ARGOS was repeatedly launched, flown and recovered from USV Pioneer under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA)- an integration and multiple launch-and-recovery sequences. The ROV-USV deployment included operations in 2m waves south of the breakwater with no impact on the ROV.
The integrated system is designed around two complementary strengths:
- USV Seakeeping and Endurance: USV Pioneer provides a stable launch-and-recovery platform for the deployment of the ROV solution in higher sea states. The stability enables operations in wave heights greater than equivalent crewed vessels, extending workable days per campaign and reducing weather-related downtime.
- ROV Precision and Remote Operability: Supplied with a bespoke “plug & play” USV integration kit, Forssea Robotics’ 100% web-controllable ARGOS ROV delivers high-manoeuvrability inspection, survey and light-intervention capability in a compact form factor, deploying a variety of payloads and opening the door to multiple market applications.
During the operations, the two systems operated as a single remotely supervised package, controlled from the ACUA Ocean Remote Operations Centre at Turnchapel Wharf, with Forssea supervising simultaneously from its headquarters in Sète, France, and a dive live streamed to Eckenforde, Germany for the Cyber Innovation Hub of the Bundeswehr.
Over six days of at-sea operations, the campaign demonstrated:
- More than 40 ROV deployments, including eight launch-and-recovery cycles in a single day.
- Seabed reached and inspected in >20m of water, with up to 35m of tether deployed.
- Operations in 1 m waves, with winds averaging 18 kt and gusting 20–30 kt.
- Completed test inspection on The Poulmic wreck, a seabed feature and a concrete target block located and filmed in Cawsand Bay.
- Positioning by a Sonardyne Mini-Ranger 2 USBL on Pioneer tracking a WSM6+ transponder on ARGOS, with manual and dynamic-positioning station keeping, holding the ROV on task in degraded conditions.
The collaboration is aimed at offshore energy operators, subsea inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) providers, security of critical national infrastructure and survey companies seeking to:
- Reduce reliance on large crewed support vessels for routine inspection, survey, and light intervention work
- Extend operational windows into higher sea states, improving campaign reliability and reducing weather-related delays
- Lower the cost, carbon footprint, and personnel risk associated with offshore ROV operations
- Access remote and asset-dense environments – including wind farms, pipelines, and subsea infrastructure – with a scalable, uncrewed solution
“These trials prove we can open a weather window that conventional crewed vessels cannot work in, giving operators a wider weather window for inspection campaigns. Just as importantly, running inspection campaigns from an uncrewed surface vessel takes significant cost out of the work – fewer support vessels, fewer people offshore and far less weather-related downtime.” – Neil Tinmouth, CEO ACUA Ocean
“All of us at Forssea are hugely proud of this milestone and impressed by Pioneer’s sea-state capabilities. Seeing how smoothly the ROV integration and the multiple launch-and-recovery sequences went over the past few weeks was hugely satisfying. My congratulations to the ACUA engineering teams – we are excited to see what comes next.” – Gautier Dreyfus, CEO Forssea Robotics
 with ACUA Ocean’s Pioneer){kind=link}