The Ocean Company - Ulysses | a16z American Dynamism

我们的海洋广阔无垠，却在很大程度上仍是一个谜团，人类对这一基本资源的了解甚至少于对头顶天空的了解。这种了解和可达性上的不足，阻碍了从生态系统恢复到工业运营和国防等关键活动。尤利西斯公司（Ulysses）三年前成立，其使命是通过开发先进的水下机器人技术，彻底改变人类与海洋环境的互动方式。 尤利西斯最初专注于扩大水下生态系统恢复规模，但很快就意识到在水下进行任何作业都面临着深刻而普遍的挑战。水下作业的高成本和固有难度不仅限制了环境应用，也限制了新兴的离岸产业和关键的国防部门。当前的“AI超级周期”正极大地增加对海洋资源的需求，推动了对海底电缆、关键矿物和能源的需求，所有这些都严重依赖于海洋。 与此同时，一个新的地缘政治格局正在形成，凸显了海洋的战略重要性。最近在霍尔木兹海峡布雷、曼德海峡的威胁、海底电缆窃听以及管道爆炸等事件，都突显了对强大、自主水下能力日益增长的需求。传统的、中心化的军事系统在应对非对称威胁时显得力不从心，在非对称威胁中，廉价、分散的资产可以瞄准高价值基础设施。海洋领域正变得越来越关键，需要无人系统和无人机等创新解决方案。 尤利西斯公司的诞生源于一个实际挑战：创始人之一杰米观察到苏格兰海岸海草恢复过程的原始和低效。现有无人水下航行器（UUV）在此类任务中成本过高且不适用，这促使他们利用杰米的无人机背景来建造自己的设备。这种创新方法很快取得了成果，尤利西斯现在声称不仅能够探测水下水雷，而且更重要的是能够将其解除——这一能力在霍尔木兹海峡最近的紧张局势中得到了凸显。 在海洋中作业面临巨大的工程挑战；盐水具有无情的腐蚀性和破坏性。尤利西斯通过将机械加工内包化来解决这个问题，从而实现快速原型设计和迭代。他们的核心技术创新在于一个高度模块化的系统：每个机器人都由可互换的模块构成，这些模块具有标准化的电源和数据接口。这种设计允许用户在几分钟内轻松地为车辆定制所需的传感器（如多波束测深仪）、额外电池容量或额外的推进器。这种模块化，结合在海洋中进行大量实地测试（与太空不同）的优势，使得持续快速改进成为可能，提供了比模拟更有价值的数据。 尤利西斯目前受限于供应而非需求，商业和国防部门都对可靠、经济高效且功能强大的车辆表现出浓厚兴趣。他们设想从根本上改变人类与海洋互动的方式。他们的更广阔愿景是建立一个由水面和水下自主航行器组成的全球网络，24/7不间断运行，在水下有效地建立固定基础设施，就像轨道上的卫星一样。他们旨在成为“海洋公司”，就像SpaceX代表太空一样，成为海洋技术的代名词。这一雄心根植于探索、理解和保护这一“最后伟大前沿”的愿望，使人类既能从海洋资源中获取更多，也能为海洋的健康和可持续性做出更多贡献。

The vastness of our oceans remains largely a mystery, with humanity knowing less about this fundamental resource than the sky above. This lack of understanding and accessibility hinders critical activities, from ecosystem restoration to industrial operations and defense. The company Ulysses was founded three years ago with a mission to revolutionize our interaction with the marine environment by developing advanced underwater robotics. Initially focused on scaling underwater ecosystem restoration, Ulysses quickly realized the profound and widespread challenge of performing any work beneath the waves. The high cost and inherent difficulty of underwater operations were limiting factors not only in environmental applications but also in burgeoning offshore industries and critical defense sectors. The current "AI supercycle" is dramatically increasing demand for ocean resources, driving needs for subsea cables, critical minerals, and energy, all of which heavily rely on the ocean. Concurrently, a new geopolitical order is emerging, highlighting the ocean's strategic importance. Recent events like mine placements in the Strait of Hormuz, threats in the Bab El Manda, undersea cable tapping, and pipeline explosions underscore the escalating need for robust, autonomous underwater capabilities. Traditional, centralized military systems are proving insufficient against asymmetric threats, where inexpensive, distributed assets can target high-value infrastructure. The maritime domain is becoming increasingly critical, demanding innovative solutions like unmanned systems and drones. Ulysses's genesis sprung from a practical challenge: Jamie, one of the founders, observed the rudimentary and inefficient process of seagrass restoration off the coast of Scotland. The exorbitant cost and unsuitability of existing unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for such tasks led them to leverage Jamie’s drone background to build their own. This innovative approach quickly bore fruit, with Ulysses now claiming the ability to not only detect underwater mines, but, crucially, to disarm them – a capability highlighted during recent tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Operating in the ocean presents immense engineering challenges; saltwater is relentlessly corrosive and destructive. Ulysses tackles this by bringing machining in-house, enabling rapid prototyping and iteration. Their core technological innovation lies in a highly modular system: each robot is built from interchangeable modules featuring standardized power and data interfaces. This design allows users to easily customize vehicles with desired sensors (like multi-beam echo sounders), additional battery capacity, or extra thrusters, often within minutes. This modularity, combined with the advantage of abundant real-world testing opportunities in the ocean (unlike space), allows for continuous and rapid improvement, providing invaluable data over simulations. Ulysses is currently supply-limited rather than demand-limited, with strong interest from both commercial and defense sectors for reliable, cost-effective, and capable vehicles. They envision fundamentally transforming how humanity interacts with the ocean. Their broader vision involves creating a global network of surface and undersea autonomous vehicles operating 24/7, effectively establishing fixed infrastructure beneath the waves, much like satellites in orbit. They aim to be "the ocean company," synonymous with marine technology in the same way SpaceX is with space. This ambition is rooted in a desire to explore, understand, and protect this "last great frontier," enabling humanity to both extract more from the ocean's resources and contribute significantly more back to its health and sustainability.