Autonomous ocean robots for restoration, inspection, and stewardship.
Photo credit: Ulysses
Ulysses is a San Francisco ocean-robotics company building low-cost autonomous underwater and surface vehicles that keep oceans safe, healthy, and prosperous. Founded in 2023 by a team of robotics engineers including Akhil Voorakkara, Jamie Wedderburn, Colm O'Brien, and Will O'Brien, Ulysses treats the ocean as an operating domain that needs persistent, scalable machines, not occasional ship deployments.
The company’s systems include the Mako autonomous underwater vehicle family and surface vessels coordinated by Kraken, an autonomous launch, recovery, and recharge system that enables missions with minimal human intervention. Use cases span ecological restoration (such as seagrass replanting), offshore infrastructure inspection, and maritime security, dual-use capability designed for conservation groups, energy operators, and defense customers alike.
By driving robot cost toward roughly $50,000-class platforms instead of multi-million-dollar vehicles, Ulysses aims to deploy fleets that stay at sea and do work at ecosystem scale.
Ulysses creates impact by making ocean intervention autonomous and affordable. Cheaper, networked robots can restore habitats faster, inspect infrastructure without constant crewed ships, and gather persistent data. Ecological restoration is both a customer market and a proving ground for autonomy that transfers to other maritime missions.
Founded 2023; ~$46M raised including a $38M Series A led by a16z. Mako AUVs reported to dive ~5,000 ft for multi-day missions; seagrass replanting claimed up to ~100x faster than traditional methods. Customers cited include conservation and defense organizations.
Fleet Economics
Low-cost modular robots make swarm-scale ocean operations viable versus single expensive platforms.
Full-Stack Autonomy
Kraken launch/recovery/recharge enables remote missions with minimal human intervention.
Restoration Ready
Built for ecological work like seagrass replanting where precision and persistence matter.
Dual-Domain Systems
Surface and underwater vehicles share an operating system for inspection, security, and stewardship.
Focus areas
Locations
