Boxfish Research– Eyes Under the Sea
Company Profile
Boxfish Research is an Auckland based company that designs and manufactures underwater ROVs and autonomous resident vehicles. The company was established in 2016 by Ben King and Craig Anderson and now has sales worldwide for a variety of applications
The Relationship
The Product Accelerator started working with Boxfish Research Ltd in early 2016 when the company approached us to explore the challenges in underwater inspection. Product Accelerator has funded a PhD project that is supervised by Professor Bruce MacDonald at the University of Auckland and Professor Richard Green at the University of Canterbury, investigating enhanced navigation systems for ROV’s with expert input from Boxfish with the goal of further enhancing their products.
The Impact
Funding a PhD student to conduct a research project has further extended the knowledge of Boxfish Research in underwater navigation, positioning and control. The resulting knowledge could also add considerably to the Boxfish value proposition and enable them to market the extra capability through a subscription model.
Product Accelerator team has and continues to provide many introductions for Boxfish, including MPI, NZ Customs, Sanford, and the Defence Technology Agency. NZ’s largest seafood company, Sanford NZ has trialled the deployment of Boxfish ROVs in both the Coromandel (mussel farms) and Stewart Island (Salmon farming). In 2018, MPI commissioned the Product Accelerator to do a study of the global ROV market which demonstrated that Boxfish was world leading in underwater ROV and image visualization.
In the last 5 years, Boxfish Research Ltd has grown from a team of 3 to about 20 people. Boxfish Research’s products include the observation class Boxfish ROV and a professional underwater cinematography drone, the Boxfish Luna, the ultimate high-tech tool for the natural history filmmakers and scientists on board of research vessels. In partnership with Transmark Subsea AS, Boxfish Research also designed the ARV-i, a unique autonomous underwater resident vehicle for continuous monitoring of underwater assets. The system is currently going through the series of field trials.
The Value
Ben King, the co-founder of Boxfish Research Ltd, said: “The continued support, advice and connections from the Product Accelerator team have supported the success of Boxfish in NZ and provide us with a strong platform from which to export our great NZ products. “
Social Media
Facebook: @BoxfishResearch
Instagram: @boxfishresearch
LinkedIn: Boxfish Research
Twitter: @boxfishresearch
YouTube: Boxfish Research
Vimeo: Boxfish Research
