In Tallinn, Estonia, we find Unsinkable Robotics. Headed by CEO Timmu Tollimägi, the company builds underwater robots and tooling for robots to phase out one of the most dangerous occupations: being a diver in a fish farm. Unsinkable Robotics’ first product is a robot-operated fish farm net fixing tool that is able to patch a net 10x cheaper and 300x faster than it is currently being done by divers. They supply the tools and net fixing patches either directly to fish farmers or to the companies responsible for farm maintenance. In addition, they are developing an automated net scanning camera that will scan and map the damage to the nets while the robot carries out routine maintenance like net washing. This saves additional time and makes sure that the nets are always well maintained.
Timmu Tollimägi is a mechatronics engineer and has been involved in many robot-building projects in the past 7 years. Unsinkable Robotics originally started out as a hobby project and the first two prototypes were struggling to live up to their name – they sank. However, things picked up from there, and the positive feedback from the industry inspired Timmu and his team to take the project to the next level and found the company around it. The project was kick-started through the Prototron prototyping competition and further developed in the European Space Agency Business Incubator.
Today, Unsinkable Robotics targets clients within finfish farming and fish farm maintenance companies. While their existing products manage to attract and hold customer attention, they are continuously thinking about improvements. They aim to transform the business into a wider fish farm automation technology provider covering markets in Norway, Scotland, Canada and Chile.
Through Scale-up Champions and similar projects, Unsinkable Robotics has been able to establish new partnerships within the Estonian and Norwegian business and maritime sectors.
As part of the Scale-up Champions Investment Readiness Programme, Unsinkable Robotics was paired up with Danish maritime robotics specialist Resen Waves, where Per Resen Steenstrup helped Timmu and the team sharpen their business. For Timmu, his conversations with Per confirmed that they must find and keep the focus of their business, and during the programme, they have tried to do just that in order to successfully bring their first product to market. The programme has also helped Unsinkable Robotics keep a hand on the pulse of progress and motivate them to push forward. During the regular mentor meetings, they reorganize and think their moves through and discuss good contacts that might become useful in their journey.
Lately, Unsinkable Robotics has also participated in the Scale-up Champions Market Discovery Tour to Denmark, which served as an introduction to the Danish ecosystem and helped Timmu open conversations with possible partners in the Danish offshore wind energy industry.