PaleBlue, a leading provider of simulation and training solutions for industries where safety and precision are paramount, has delivered a ROV simulator to the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany’s leading institute for polar and marine research. The project marks a notable step for PaleBlue’s ROV Trainer platform, extending its proven track record in oil & gas and search and rescue into the world of scientific research.

As part of its scientific operations, AWI operates a number of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and plans to extend its operation from small observation-class systems to larger work-class vehicles. These ROVs are used to support underwater research missions in some of the most remote and demanding environments on the planet, from the deep seafloor to the ice-covered waters of the polar regions.

With a diverse ROV fleet and a need to train personnel across very different classes of vehicles, AWI required a flexible, realistic training solution that could prepare pilots and scientific staff for real missions without the cost, risk, and logistical complexity of doing all training on the water.

PaleBlue’s ROV Trainer simulator proved to be an excellent fit for this challenge. The platform allows AWI to train personnel on both small observation-class ROVs and larger work-class vehicles within a single, unified system, delivering the experience across all classes in an IMCA Class A-aligned training package.

For this project, PaleBlue provided the simulator software along with the Master Arm hardware component, while AWI set up the rest of the physical hardware. This collaborative approach allowed AWI to integrate the simulator into its own existing infrastructure and workflows, while still benefiting from PaleBlue’s specialized software and manipulator control hardware.

The simulator is now running in the AWI Technical Centre building, at the institute’s base in Bremerhaven, Germany, where it is available to support the training of ROV personnel ahead of future expeditions and research missions.

Building on this initial delivery, PaleBlue and AWI are now discussing the further development of specific simulator scenarios tailored to marine biology and polar studies. Such scenarios would allow AWI’s teams to rehearse the particular sampling, observation, or intervention tasks relevant to their scientific missions, directly within the simulated environment, before deploying real vehicles in the field.

For PaleBlue, the collaboration with AWI represents an important expansion of its footprint into the research and academic sector, and a demonstration that our simulation technology, developed and refined across energy, defense, and search and rescue applications, is equally capable of supporting the world’s marine science community.Felix Horn, CEO at PaleBlue

The new simulator setup allows AWI to train ROV personnel, as well as students from the field of marine science on various ROVs. The flexible architecture allows for easy future additions of control hardware for different vehicles as well as software upgrades with specialized scenarios and upcoming vehicles.Christian Katlein, Specialist Underwater Robotics at AWI

About PaleBlue
PaleBlue is a global leader in training and simulation technology, for safety-critical industries, including oil and gas, energy and maritime operations. PaleBlue is delivering immersive and effective virtual training solutions that improve knowledge retention, operational performance, and safety. PaleBlue has previously delivered subsea and ROV simulators and services to high-profile clients such as SLB OneSubsea, TechnipFMC, Allseas, DeepTech Oil Services (MCS Group), French Navy, Exa-Blue Egypt and Portuguese Navy.

About Alfred Wegener Institute
The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, is a leading German research institute in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and marine and polar sciences. Headquartered in Bremerhaven, AWI coordinates German polar research and operates some of the field’s most important infrastructure, including the research icebreaker Polarstern and stations such as Neumayer Station III in Antarctica. In the Arctic, AWI jointly operates the AWIPEV research base in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, in cooperation with France’s Institut polaire français Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV).