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North East subsea engineering team closes in on $7m XPRIZE

A team of subsea engineering experts are within touching distance of a bringing a $7m prize pot and international recognition back to the North East.

Representing the UK as well as the region, the team has advanced to the semi-finals in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, an international competition which aims to create the next generation tools, technologies and techniques for rapid, unmanned ocean exploration and discovery.

Teams are challenged to design and build new ways to map the ocean floor at depths and a resolution never achieved before using advanced deep-sea technologies for autonomous, fast and high-resolution ocean exploration.

Based in the National Centre for Subsea and Offshore Engineering in Newcastle, Team Tao is the only UK team to make the semi-final and will compete against 21 teams from 13 countries vying for their share of the $7 million prize purse.

Underwater robotics is a core element of the competition, challenging teams to develop deep-sea autonomous underwater robots that have to perform a series of tasks.

Team Tao operates with a core team of four engineering experts from SMD, Newcastle University and CRRCTEC Ltd and is backed by a panel of seven industry and academic advisors.

Their approach to the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE involves international collaboration through partnerships with companies in China, the US and France, as well as research and innovation experts at Newcastle University through its Tyne Subsea Centre for subsea and offshore engineering.

The first of its kind in the UK, the Tyne Subsea Centre brings together academia and industry in a world-class engineering research facility.

Chris Wilkinson, Tao Team Advisor and Chief Technology Officer at SMD UK, said: “Team Tao being the only UK team in the second round of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE Challenge is a great achievement for them and something we are extremely proud to support.

“The competition is all about finding faster and cheaper ways to create maps for all our oceans’ sea beds.

“The current estimated cost and time to do this is $3 billion by 2030. The challenge is significant and being part of the competition is very much about taking part in a journey of learning and innovating each step of the way.

“The technologies which will come out of the XPRIZE will give us the ability to finally discover underwater resources, geological features, new species and safer methods of mapping and exploring the world’s oceans.”

Professor Nick Wright, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Newcastle University, added: “Team Tao represents industry and academia working together to solve a global problem.

“If we can increase awareness and understanding of our oceans there are significant and wide-ranging economic and environmental opportunities from eco-tourism to bio prospecting.”

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