Company History

Timeline

2003

The Story Begins

The story begins with a kayak & a hydrophone: Joe Rizzi sets off to investigate how to record Humpback Whale songs

2005

Data Buoy

Joe enlists the Hine family to help develop an “unmoored, station-keeping data buoy”

2007

Recognizing Commercial Potential

Liquid Robotics is founded with Roger Hine as CEO

To The Ocean

From fish tank to the ocean, the 1st Wave Glider begins sea testing

2009

Circling the Big Island

Wave Glider completes 1st nine day circumnavigation of Hawaii’s Big Island

Hawaii to San Diego

82 days and 2500 nautical miles later, 2 Wave Gliders finish journey from Hawaii to San Diego

Early customer adoption

Early customer adoption including U.S. oceanographic institutions, NOAA, and the U.S. Navy

2010

BP & Deepwater Horizon

BP deploys Wave Gliders to monitor water quality for Deepwater Horizon

Wall Street Journal Award

Wall Street Journal names Liquid Robotics as one of the Most Innovative Technologies

2011

Silicon Valley HQ

HQ is established in Sunnyvale, California the heart of Silicon Valley

First Arctic mission

NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory deploys Wave Gliders to collect water temperature data in the Beaufort Sea

Bill Vass, CEO

Bill Vass becomes CEO of Liquid Robotics

Across the Pacific Ocean

Launch of Pacific Crossing (PacX), unprecedented journey of ocean robots across the Pacific ocean

2012

Liquid Robotics Oil & Gas

Liquid Robotics and Schlumberger, form Liquid Robotics Oil & Gas, a joint venture with Schlumberger

World Economic Forum award

World Economic Forum names Roger Hine and Liquid Robotics Technology Pioneers for 2013

Wave Glider vs. Hurricane Sandy

Wave Glider battles Hurricane Sandy while collecting and transmitting real time hurricane data

Across the Pacific ocean

1st PacX Wave Glider, Papa Mau, reaches Australia to become the 1st autonomous robot to cross the Pacific ocean

2013

Wave Glider sets a Guinness Record

PacX Wave Glider, Benjamin, arrived in Australia and set the Guinness Record for longest journey by an autonomous, unmanned surface vehicle on the planet

Wave Glider SV3

The next generation Wave Glider SV3 is introduced

400,000 nautical miles at sea

Collectively Wave Gliders amass over 400,000 nautical miles at sea

Wave Gliders & Barbara Block

Wave Gliders help Dr. Barbara Block track Great White sharks off California coast

2014

Gary Gysin, CEO

Gary Gysin announced as President & CEO

Cooperative Research with NOAA

Sign scientific Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) with NOAA

Boeing partnership

Boeing and Liquid Robotics sign multiyear agreement to advance maritime defense solutions

Awarded Top 10 Most Innovative Company

Liquid Robotics named by Fast Company as one of the “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Robotics.”

Wave Glider vs. Super Typhoon Rammasun

Wave Glider in the South China Sea battles and sends real-time data during Super Typhoon Rammasun (Cat 5)

2015

World Ocean Innovation Challenge

Liquid Robotics named winner of The Economists’ first World Ocean Innovation Challenge

2016

1.1 MILLION NAUTICAL MILES AT SEA

Collectively Wave Gliders amass over 1,100,000 nautical miles at sea and collected 131M+ ocean measurements.

Wave Glider Swims 2,802 Nautical Miles

A Wave Glider swam 2,808 nautical miles (5200 km) to the Big Island of Hawaii after successfully completing a 4-month patrol mission of the Pitcairn Island Marine Sanctuary.

Liquid Robotics and HDS delivers Japan’s First Long-Term Ocean Observation Network

Fleet of Wave Gliders provide comprehensive and economical monitoring of Japan’s ocean conditions

UK’s National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) conducts successful Sea Surface Measurement in the North Sea

Wave Glider with GNSS measures sea surface height with an accuracy of about 1 cm

FlightRadar24 deploys first autonomous system with ADS-B for real time aircraft tracking

Wave Gliders fill the monitoring gaps across the harsh Nordic Seas

CEFAS conducts World’s first “on demand” autonomous marine water sampling

Enables scientists to collect more accurate samples, cheaper, safer and in real time

Liquid Robotics and Boeing detect live submarine during British Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior demonstration

Groundbreaking milestone in Autonomous Maritime Warfare Capabilities

Boeing Acquires Liquid Robotics

Liquid Robotics joins the Defense, Space & Security division of The Boeing Company to further strengthen the company’s autonomous systems portfolio.

2017

Wave Glider Mission in High Sea States

Wave Gliders operate through 10 meter seas (Sea State 8) in Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Icelandic mission

Wave Gliders Provide Real-Time Weather Data for Historic Hōkūleʻa Canoe Homecoming

Wave Gliders provided real-time weather, environmental and navigation data for the Hōkūleʻa and her sister canoes as they sailed into Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi after its three year, 40,000 nautical mile Mālama Honua voyage

Liquid Robotics Announces Next Generation Wave Glider

Next generation Wave Glider includes advancements to the platform’s operational range, performance for missions in high sea states and high latitudes, expanded sensor payloads, and increased energy and storage capacity

2018

Japan Coast Guards Expands Ocean Observation Fleet

This growth (or expansion) is part of JCG’s multi-year, ocean monitoring program to provide enhanced, real-time situational awareness of ocean currents, wave activity, and weather along Japan’s coastlines

Collecting live volcano plume data

Two Wave Gliders deployed to capture live ocean data close to where lava flows into the ocean from Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano eruption.

2019

Liquid Robotics Announces Newest Wave Glider

Featuring advancements to shoreside operations and in-water performance enabling customers to mobilize, deploy and operate fleets of vehicles more efficiently.

2020

Winch Enables Sensor Deployment at Depths

The Winch 150P is released, enabling customers to deploy ocean sensors to varying depths; ideal for subsea acoustics, CTD and fluorometry casts, water sampling, and fish tracking.