ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND, April 13, 2021 /GLOBE NEWSWIRE/ — Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX-V: PNG, OTCQB: KRKNF), Canada’s Ocean Company, is pleased to announce that Quincy, Massachusetts based Dive Technologies Inc. (“Dive”) recently completed successful sea trials of Kraken’s Miniature Synthetic Aperture Sonar (MINSAS 120) integrated onto Dive’s Large Displacement Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (DIVE-LD). The Dive-LD is also powered by Kraken’s pressure tolerant batteries.

Kraken’s MINSAS is a commercially available off the shelf configurable Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) which replaces high end side scan sonar systems at an affordable price, while delivering significantly higher resolution, range, and area coverage rates (ACR). The increased range and resolution and associated higher ACR of SAS over traditional systems offers a powerful capability when combined with the long range and endurance of the DIVE-LD.

Sea trials were conducted from March 29 to April 8, held in Shallow Water and Very Shallow Water environments, in and around Buzzards Bay, MA and Narragansett Bay, RI. Due to COVID travel restrictions, Kraken personnel provided support remotely throughout the integration and sea trials with the DIVE-LD. Immediately following successful sea trials, Dive was also able to conduct a number of customer demonstrations for commercial and defense customers.


Figure 1: Kraken MINSAS image of the wreck of the USS Yankee, collected on the DIVE-LD

 

Kraken Comments

“We are excited to see Dive equipping their AUVs with Kraken’s ultra-high resolution imaging and mapping capabilities, a milestone which also represents the 20th unique vehicle platform that has been successfully integrated with Kraken’s Synthetic Aperture Sonar,” said Kraken Senior Vice President of Engineering, David Shea. “Despite COVID limiting our onsite support, the speed and ease of integration of the MINSAS onto the DIVE-LD is a testament to the quality and experience of both the Kraken and Dive engineering teams. Within a short number of days, the Dive team had their vehicle in-water and collecting high quality sonar data, processed in real-time onboard the AUV. The high stability of the DIVE-LD has proven to be an excellent platform for the MINSAS 120 payload, and the open architecture and free flooded design allowed for simple and flexible payload mounting options.”

Dive Comments

“Our team is incredibly excited to continue working with Kraken Robotics,” said Bill Lebo, Dive Co-Founder. “Following our previous successful sea trials with Kraken’s batteries, our team was keen to continue the positive momentum in our vehicle development with integration of Kraken’s latest generation MINSAS 120 sonar system. Over 7 days we completed 30 missions and collected 1.3 TB of sonar data, processed in real-time onboard the AUV. The incredible imagery produced allowed our team to quickly locate and identify a variety of objects in the testing area, including abandoned lobster traps previously hidden amongst a boulder field, a number of shipwrecks and customer-specific targets of interest. The imagery collected of the wreck of the USS Yankee was particularly impressive (see attached image). The use of Kraken’s removable data storage module, the DataPod, also enabled us to demonstrate time-critical data exfiltration at the conclusion of the test missions.”

Kraken and Dive Technologies entered into an agreement in August 2020 whereby Kraken agreed to supply subsea batteries for the DIVE-LD. Under the terms of the agreement, Kraken also acquired a license to build two DIVE-LDs for use in Kraken’s growing Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) business. Production of Kraken’s first DIVE-LD is currently underway with the first unit being manufactured in the United States. Kraken expects that it will be delivered to Kraken’s Unmanned Maritime Vehicle Facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for sea trials this summer.

Figure 2: The DIVE-LD with Kraken MINSAS120

ABOUT KRAKEN ROBOTICS INC.

Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX.V:PNG) (OTCQB: KRKNF) is a marine technology company dedicated to the production and sale of software-centric sensors, subsea batteries and thrusters, and underwater robotic systems. The company is headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland with offices in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Toronto, Ontario; Bremen & Rostock, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Boston, Massachusetts. Kraken is ranked as a Top 100 marine technology company by Marine Technology Reporter. For more information, please visit www.krakenrobotics.com, www.krakenrobotik.de, www.krakenpower.de. Find us on social media on LinkedIn (Kraken Robotics), Twitter (@krakenrobotics), Facebook (@krakenroboticsinc), YouTube (Kraken Robotics) and Instagram (@KrakenRobotics).

Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “seek”, “propose”, “estimate”, “expect”, and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, expected growth, results of operations, performance, business projects and opportunities and financial results. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company’s current views with respect to future events based on certain material factors and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market, competition, governmental or regulatory developments, general economic conditions and other factors set out in the Company’s public disclosure documents. Many factors could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this news release, including without limitation those listed above. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this news release and such forward-looking statements included in, or incorporated by reference in this news release, should not be unduly relied upon. Such statements speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provide (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release, and the OTCQB has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

 

For further information, please contact:

Joe MacKay, Chief Financial Officer

(416) 303-0605

jmackay@krakenrobotics.com

 

Greg Reid, Chief Operating Officer

(416) 818-9822

greid@krakenrobotics.com

 

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

(647) 955-1274

sean@sophiccapital.com