It appears Open Ocean Robotics has made its way into open waters with a full head of steam er… electricity. It’s already been a big 2023 for the local oceantech outfit, manufacturing and developing what it calls “ocean drones”: solar-powered autonomous boats that are decked out with data collection instruments and hardware to keep them afloat.

The year started with Open Ocean Robotics’ work in Bahrain alongside the U.S. Navy, which was featured in a Wall Street Journal video report: here

The company then announced an expansion of operations — to Eastern Canada, with one of its unmanned surface vehicles present in Halifax — and $1.75 million in funding from the Province’s Innovative Clean Energy Fund. A handsome photo of one of its boats even appeared in the New York Times.

Now, the company boasts an impressive 12,000 square feet near the waterfront of its hometown. Open Ocean Robotics’ new facility includes custom-built manufacturing, engineering, and ocean operations facilities. It enables the company to scale manufacturing and easily deploy its boats on the ocean for testing.

“Thank you to our incredible Open Ocean Robotics team for welcoming our community to our open house and to all those who came to celebrate with us,” the company’s co-founder and CEO Julie Angus wrote on LinkedIn. “We are especially grateful to Victoria mayor Marianne Alto and SIPP CEO Emilie de Rosenroll for speaking at the ribbon cutting.”

“We are excited to be here in the beautiful waters of British Columbia,” the company added in a LinkedIn post. And now those waters are homier than ever for the company.