“Underwater DJI” is heading for IPO, is the first underwater robot stock coming?

Introduction: The sky is too crowded, how should the story of underwater robots be told?

The blue dream comes from the pursuit of the unknown.

In the 2016 “Thousands of Machines War”, DJI stood out and took the lead. As the surging digital intelligence wave swept across the land, the underwater blue ocean of tens of billions of dollars with infinite possibilities was slightly quiet, waiting for more capital to enter the market and waiting for technology to open up...

Recently, a scientific and technological innovation enterprise that strives to realize the "blue dream" and aspires to be an industry leader has rung the bell. The domestic A-share market may usher in the " first underwater robot " stock.

01 Lei Jun invested, more than 30 VCs bet on

On October 19, according to the news from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, DeepBlue Ocean Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "DeepBlue") has registered for guidance and filing with the Tianjin Securities Regulatory Bureau, locking in the Science and Technology Innovation Board as the stage for entering the capital market, and plans to issue shares for the first time and go public.

In 2013, Shenzhilan was established in Tianjin, dedicated to the independent research and development and manufacturing of underwater intelligent equipment.

Hundreds of challenging days and nights, thousands of experiments that were restarted...

Deep Blue, which has been working in the "no man's land", has made breakthroughs in core technologies and successfully developed the first domestically developed underwater propulsion system. Benchmarking against the United States, its product can achieve a 20% thrust increase at the same power, successfully breaking the monopoly of Western countries.

Today, DeepBlue is no longer subject to the control of others in key technologies, and its key components are no longer dependent on imports. Its underwater robots are widely used in water conservancy and hydropower, water rescue, underwater security and other fields. It is the first to sell "Made in China" to more than 70 countries around the world, achieving a huge leap from "0" to "1" in China's underwater robot exports, impacting industry giants and completing a gorgeous transformation from a nobody to an industry leader.

DJI in the sky, deep blue underwater, this sentence is also becoming known and recognized by more and more people.

Compared with the field of drones , which is seriously involutionary , underwater intelligent manufacturing, a seemingly "unattended" emerging track, is actually "quietly developing" and doing great things.

Over the past 10 years, Shenzhilan has completed 14 rounds of financing, with a total financing of more than 1.3 billion yuan. It has attracted investments from more than 30 well-known institutions and venture capital funds such as Yuanxing Capital, Hongtai Fund, Everest Venture Capital, and Minsheng Securities. Even Shunwei Capital under Lei Jun is fond of it.

Behind the rapid development is the broad prospects of the underwater robot market.

According to research report data, the domestic underwater robot market size reached 11.02 billion yuan in 2022, successfully entering the "10 billion club", and it is estimated that by 2027, the domestic underwater robot market size will exceed 40 billion yuan.

With the rapid increase in population pressure and the tightening of land resources, it is an inevitable trend for the development of the times to fully develop marine resources. In the new round of technological changes, can underwater robots that can replace humans to dive into the deep sea and perform difficult and dangerous tasks, and are labeled as "unfathomable", usher in a real outlet?

The future is full of uncertainties. But when the bell rings, more players will enter the market to jointly explore and develop the blue ocean of underwater robots, which has not yet tapped its full potential.

02 The transformation of China's underwater robots

Underwater robots, in layman's terms, are robots that can dive into the water to replace or assist humans and perform extreme underwater operations. They are an important "sword" used by humans to conquer the unknown ocean in the process of scientific and technological development.

According to the connection method with the surface support system, underwater robots can be divided into two categories:

The first category is the cabled underwater robot , also known as the remotely controlled underwater robot (ROV). ROV needs to obtain energy from the mother ship through the cable, and is remotely controlled by humans through the cable. According to different working methods, it is divided into three types: towed, mobile and floating.

The second category is the autonomous underwater robot (AUV) , which is also known as the intelligent underwater robot. AUV has a built-in power system and control system, and can make decisions and work autonomously without human operation.

The origin of underwater robots is based on military needs and can be traced back to the 1950s.

In 1960, the United States developed the world's first ROV - CURV1. It worked with a manned submersible to find a hydrogen bomb lost on the seabed off the coast of Spain, shocking the world.

my country's journey towards underwater robots started late but has made rapid progress.

In the 1980s, scientists began to explore underwater robots. In 1986, my country successfully developed the first generation of cabled underwater robot "Hairen No. 1"; in 1994, the cable-free underwater robot "Xunxuezhe" was born, realizing the leap from cabled to cable-free; in 1995, an unmanned submersible with a working depth of 6,000 meters was launched, making China one of the world's leading diving technology...

In the following 20 years, driven by national strategic needs, China's underwater robots have achieved rapid development. "Jiaolong", "Qianlong" and "Hailong" have been put into production one after another. China has gradually achieved the climb from low-end to mid-to-high-end and officially entered the first echelon of deep-sea competition.

After 2010, underwater robots gradually expanded from military and scientific research to vast commercial and civilian fields. More private enterprises accelerated their layout and started the market competition from following to running side by side and then to leading.

Just like before the explosion of drones, the consumer market for underwater robots is basically a blank sheet of paper.

DeepBlue is the first company to introduce underwater robots to the mass consumer sector. Its Sublue is lightweight and affordable, successfully opening up the underwater sports market, occupying nearly 65% ​​of the global market share in the industry, allowing more and more ordinary consumers to experience the fun of "diving".

03 Where is the "brain" of an underwater robot?

The reason why underwater robots can work autonomously in complex environments is due to their powerful "brain" system, which is its six key technologies.

Intelligent control technology

Intelligent control is the core of underwater robots. It builds a system similar to the human brain and nerve response, enabling underwater robots to have environmental perception and autonomous decision-making capabilities. At present, scientific research institutions at home and abroad are constantly exploring new technologies and algorithms to improve the intelligence level of underwater robots.

Underwater target detection and recognition technology

In complex underwater environments, it is crucial for underwater robots to detect and identify targets quickly and accurately. This requires the comprehensive use of multiple sensor technologies such as sonar and lidar to achieve comprehensive monitoring of hydrology, topography, biology, etc.

Underwater navigation and positioning technology

Since GPS positioning is not possible underwater, the problem of navigation and positioning needs to be solved in order for underwater robots to operate accurately. Currently, the main method used is inertial navigation combined navigation, while combining modern technology such as the high-precision time and space coefficients provided by the space agency to improve positioning accuracy.

Underwater communication technology

Radio waves are severely attenuated underwater, which makes underwater communication a huge challenge. Currently, commonly used acoustic communication methods include ultrasonic communication, hydrophone communication, etc. However, the range and rate are very limited. This is also one of the important factors that currently hinder the development of underwater robots into deeper seas.

Energy System Technology

Underwater robots require small size, high density, safety and reliability in terms of energy. Currently, the widely used power battery technology still needs to be continuously improved to meet the needs of greater power and longer endurance.

System Integration Technology

Organically integrating the above technologies into an underwater robot system to achieve software and hardware coordination and information fusion is an important direction of current research and development, which directly affects the intelligence level of the underwater robot and its ability to complete complex tasks.

It can be said that the current underwater robot technology has achieved the transformation from "high, precise and advanced" to "autonomous and intelligent" and is in a period of rapid evolution.

04 Riding the wind and waves, underwater robots are ready to take off

The development of any industry cannot be separated from the support of the times.

For underwater robots, now is a golden opportunity for development.