July 7, 2021 — Liane Thompson and her husband and business partner, Simeon Pieterkosky, were well ahead of the blue economy curve when they founded Aquaai in 2014. Simeon’s work was in robotics and climate change, but his daughter had the vision for their company’s priority.
“I met Simeon while I was working as a journalist in the Middle East, and he had made a promise to his child to save the seas,” Thompson explainsed. “After his daughter learned of the ocean crisis at school, she came home and said, ‘Dad, enough with the land-based robots. Can you please make a robot to save the seas and help the planet?’”
Thompson, CEO at Aquaai, believes that turning their attention to the oceans and a commitment to sustainability and affordability has shaped what they do.
“Our long-term vision is to help keep humanity alive through sustainable and environmentally friendly practices by combining risk management with biomimicry,” she said.
Aquaai makes biomimetic robotic fish, autonomous underwater vehicles that are selective laser sintering (SLS) 3-D printed and can be deployed by a single person to monitor aquaculture fisheries and other underwater industries. The device’s small size and the way it “swims” allows it to get close to the sources it is monitoring to gather data, images and footage. These are then delivered to a web dashboard for clients.