Swedish Maritime Robotics Centre · A national Ecosystem
Autonomous intelligence beneath and on the surface
A national cross-disciplinary industrial research centre developing and demonstrating the next generation of autonomous maritime systems.
SMaRC 2.0 · active59.35°N 18.07°E
Research disciplines04
projects10
Global benefit areas03
ACADEMIC Partners: SMaRC (KTH) ARC (ORU) LSTS (Porto university)
Mission
The transition to autonomous underwater systems starts here.
SMaRC, the Swedish Maritime Robotics Centre, is a national cross-disciplinary industrial research centre for maritime robotics. The main task is to perform research on, and demonstrate, solutions that contribute to the transition to autonomous intelligent underwater systems.
The centre focuses on four research disciplines, autonomy, endurance, perception and communication, to develop next-generation maritime robotics for ocean production, safeguarding society and environmental sensing.
A · BENEFIT
Ocean production
B · BENEFIT
Safeguarding society
C · BENEFIT
Environmental sensing
Our conviction
The maritime robots will change the underwater domain the same way that satellites did for space exploration.
Research disciplines
Four disciplines, one integrated system
01 / AUTONOMY
Autonomy
Robots that plan, decide and adapt on their own, alone or as coordinated teams, where no operator can intervene in real time.
02 / ENDURANCE
Endurance
Longer, deeper, further. Air-independent energy, underwater docking and optimised vehicle systems for long-duration missions.
03 / PERCEPTION
Perception
Making sense of a dark, murky world through sonar and deep learning, and knowing where you are without GPS.
04 / COMMUNICATION
Communication
Moving data through water and across the surface, linking vehicles, operators and infrastructure into one network.
Field operations
Proven at sea, not only in the lab
Research at SMaRC ends in the water. At the SMaRC Demo Day on Askö in June 2026, a record number of visitors saw our robots and systems demonstrated in the Baltic Sea.
Behind every demonstration is the demonstrator lab at KTH, with in-house capability for vehicle, software, electronics and mechanics development, and for retrofitting commercial off-the-shelf vehicles.
Robot – AUV
Long-range long-endurance maritime robot
A platform built to go far and stay out long, integrating results from the endurance and autonomy subprojects.
Robot – AUV
Puffin – Small Robots, Big Missions
A small and cheap Drone, built to go be used by students or researchers
Robot – AUV
Small and affordable maritime robot
Low-cost vehicles that make multi-robot operations and wide deployment realistic.
Robot – USV
Evolo – a flying solution
The Evolo belongs to the ecosystem and is use dfor accelerated development of autonomy using Lidar and cameras
MRL · RESOURCE POOL
MRL resource pool
An integrated resource pool of platforms, sensors and research engineers that supports the SMaRC subprojects.
Latest transmissions
News and events
$ git clone · OPEN SOURCE
Build on our software
SMaRC simulators, software and tools, including auvlib, are open source. The rosinstall index is generated daily from the repository READMEs, so it is always current.
NRIA-U · NATIONAL AGENDA
Research and innovation agenda for underwater technology
A national strategy up to 2030 for Swedish underwater technology, compiled jointly by academia, business and authorities.
Contact
Partner with SMaRC
Industry, authorities and researchers are welcome to get in touch about collaboration, test campaigns, demonstrations and events.
CENTRE CONTACT
Peter Sigray
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden