
Potential
Tethys Robotics is developing a compact and autonomous underwater drone to enable end-to-end inspection or survey in turbid and rough waters.
Key Figures
2023
Wyss Zurich admission
7
Team size
Wyss Zurich admission
Team size
Project Description
Today, human divers play a crucial role in various underwater operations to conduct inspections and interventions despite facing serious or lethal risks, especially in rough waters. While robotic solutions exist, they either lack robustness in relevant metrics required for rough waters or require cost-intensive, polluting vessels and infrastructure.
In response to this challenging need, Tethys is developing the world’s only compact underwater drone capable of autonomous mapping and survey even in strong water flows and poor visibility, finally enabling robotic automation in all waters. With their complex but highly modular underwater drone, they can offer autonomous inspections and produce high resolution 3D models of submerged infrastructure. In addition, the underwater drone supports physical interactions with the environment.
The novel ability to deploy compact robotic systems that perform far beyond today's capabilities in poor marine environments makes it possible to streamline inspections and predictive maintenance of critical infrastructures, to reduce costs and personnel demands, and, most importantly, to protect divers in life-threatening situations.
Contact
Jonas Wüst
Project Leader

Faculty Mentor
Roland Siegwart
Faculty Mentor

Partners and Funding
- ETH Student Project House
- Gebert Rüf Stiftung
- Foundation Alcea
- Venture Kick
- ETH Student Project House
- Gebert Rüf Stiftung
- Foundation Alcea
- Venture Kick
Achievements
Core Team

Jonas Wüst
Project Leader

Pragash Sivananthaguru
Operations Lead

Johannes Lienhart
Technical Lead

Andrej Studer
Robotics Engineer

Florin Kümin
Robotics Engineer

Bastian Schildknecht
Software Engineer

Gallus Kaufmann
Electrical Engineer