A San Francisco-based business called Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering is using autonomous robots made to rebuild these vital marine ecosystems to combat the global decrease of seagrass meadows. Despite making up only 0.1% of the ocean floor, seagrass is vital for collecting carbon, purifying water, and sustaining marine life. However, seagrass meadows are vanishing worldwide at a rate of 7% annually as a result of climate change and other factors.
The business, which was started by Will O’Brien, Colm O’Brien, Jamie Wedderburn, and Akhil Voorakkara, developed a robot that can plant seagrass seeds on the ocean floor on its own in certain locations. When compared to the manual planting method, the technology speeds up restoration by a factor of 100 and does it at a significantly reduced cost. Wedderburn got the concept while on a surf trip to Scotland. He was motivated to develop a technical solution to make the process better after volunteers had a difficult time planting seagrass in difficult conditions.
Since its introduction in early 2024, Ulysses has created relationships with public and private organisations in Florida and Australia for extensive restoration initiatives, generating up to $1 million in revenue to date. Now, the firm is launching a $2 million pre-seed fundraising round to grow its workforce and advance its technology. Along with its efforts to restore seagrass, Ulysses is developing a new robot function that will allow it to pick and plant seeds from seagrass beds that are already there.
Ulysses views this technology as a first step towards more extensive uses in environmental restoration, coastal management, and security, even if seagrass restoration is still the company’s major priority. Ulysses hopes to play a significant part in preserving and rehabilitating marine ecosystems at a worldwide scale with their mission to apply cutting-edge innovation to ocean restoration.
Source: Akhil Voorakkara, Jamie Wedderburn, Colm O’Brien, Will O’Brien.