With new motor technology, a highly serviceable design and components that can largely be 3D printed, Trondheim-based technology company IVIA aims to address some of the challenges associated with today’s thrusters for ROVs and autonomous underwater vehicles. The company is a spin-off from Kadabra, a hands-on innovation and growth partner for ambitious B2B companies, and is now preparing to put its first prototypes through systematic testing. IVIA was founded by Oddbjørn Rødsten and Martin Ringdalen. Through their work at Kadabra, they have been involved in a number of projects involving ROVs, AUVs and other maritime technologies. Along the way, they identified a recurring challenge: thrusters are critical components, but can also be a source of operational problems and downtime. “We have worked with many ROV and AUV projects and seen that the thruster is one of the components where achieving reliable performance over time can be challenging. That can lead to both downtime and lost production. At the same time, Martin had spent many years working on alternative concepts for how an electric motor can be built. We saw an opportunity to use this to address some of these challenges,” says Oddbjørn Rødsten. That became the starting point for IVIA. Photo: IVIA The company is developing a new type of rim thruster based on a proprietary motor technology and production concept. The motor is positioned around the periphery of the propeller, while IVIA has also developed its own solutions for the bearings and overall mechanical architecture. “The motor technology is primarily what makes our solution different. We have also developed our own bearing solution to meet requirements for reliability, serviceability and precision,” says Martin Ringdalen, CTO of IVIA and the inventor behind the company’s core technology. The ambition is not simply to produce another version of an existing thruster. IVIA believes its technology can improve efficiency and power density while making the unit easier to maintain and repair. More precise control is another important part of the concept. “We have designed a product that should be extremely easy to service and maintain. We are also working with more precise control of speed and thrust, and associated power consumption. Based on the design work and the prototypes, we believe we have solved many of the challenges we set out to address. Now we need to collect the data to demonstrate it,” says Rødsten. Photo: IVIA Designed for easy maintenance Serviceability has been a priority from the beginning. The mechanical architecture is designed to make the thruster quick to disassemble when components need to be inspected or replaced. “The entire thruster can essentially be disassembled by removing a single screw. From there, you can take it apart. When equipment is expected to operate underwater over extended periods, we believe straightforward servicing and maintenance are important,” says Ringdalen. IVIA has chosen thrusters as the first market for the technology, but the underlying motor concept is not limited to this particular application. According to the company, the technology can be scaled in both size and geometry, potentially opening opportunities for other types of electric motors in the future. For now, however, the company intends to maintain a narrow focus. “We are close to the maritime technology community and know both the companies and the applications. That is why we have chosen thrusters as our entry market. First, we need to demonstrate that the product performs as intended. From there, we can build further,” says Rødsten. Photo: IVIA From injection molding to 3D printing Another aspect of the technology has become increasingly important during development. Large parts of the current prototype can be manufactured using 3D printing. That was not originally the intention. The Kadabra team has extensive experience with plastics and injection molding, and the components were initially designed with cost-effective industrial production in mind. But the same design principles also proved well suited to additive manufacturing. For IVIA, this has dramatically shortened the development cycle. “We can print functional components in-house overnight and test a new version the next day. A design change does not require us to manufacture new tooling. That allows us to work extremely quickly at this stage,” says Ringdalen. The company is using materials developed to withstand marine environments, including saltwater. Large parts of the housing and structural components in the prototypes are already 3D printed, and IVIA is exploring whether additive manufacturing can be used for additional components. Oddbjørn Rødsten and Martin Ringdalen. Photo: IVIA In the longer term, this could have implications beyond rapid prototyping. “It also opens up opportunities for distributed production. You need surprisingly few resources to manufacture many of these components locally. From a supply-chain perspective, that can be extremely valuable,” says Ringdalen. For IVIA, this ties into the broader ambition of building competence and production capacity for critical maritime technology close to the market. “We want to build both expertise and manufacturing capacity for this type of critical equipment locally. We believe that can become an important competitive advantage,” says Rødsten. Photo: IVIA A spin-off from Kadabra IVIA has its origins in Kadabra, where both Rødsten and Ringdalen are co-founders. Kadabra is a Trondheim-based innovation and growth partner that helps companies turn ideas and opportunities into new products, services, and scalable businesses. The company is also a member of Ocean Autonomy Cluster and works with several companies in the maritime technology community. At the same time, the company has wanted to explore business models beyond traditional consultancy. One idea has been to use the expertise within Kadabra to take a more active role in developing technologies, products and new companies. IVIA became the first internal initiative to develop into a separate company. “We realised that we already had much of the competence needed both to develop the product and to build the company. Martin has more than 20 years of experience in product development, while I have around 25 years of experience in business development and building companies. That gave us a strong foundation to get started,” says Rødsten. IVIA is now gradually separating from Kadabra as an independent company. Rødsten is moving into IVIA full-time as CEO, while Ringdalen will serve as CTO, initially dividing his time between the two companies. Photo: IVIA Moving from prototypes to testing in water The next phase will be crucial. IVIA is preparing to begin systematic testing of the technology, first under controlled conditions and subsequently in water. “Based on the design and the prototypes, we believe we have solved many of the things we wanted to solve. Now the task is to document that. We will start with bench testing under controlled conditions, before moving into the water and testing together with relevant industry partners,” says Rødsten. The company is already in dialogue with several maritime technology companies and is looking for pilot partners that can help test and validate the technology in real-world applications. Potential markets include ROV operations in aquaculture, inspection of subsea installations, seabed mapping, offshore energy and the growing use of autonomous systems for maritime operations. This is also where IVIA’s new membership in Ocean Autonomy Cluster comes into play. For the company, joining the cluster is primarily about getting closer to the companies developing the vehicles and systems where its technology could eventually be used. “We already know and work with several companies in this environment. Through Ocean Autonomy Cluster, we want to gain even better insight into the projects that are underway, identify relevant pilot partners and see where our technology could fit. That is one of the main reasons why we are joining the cluster now,” says Rødsten. Photo: IVIA