E-Paper
Underwater robotics and India’s emerging blue economy
This article is authored by Debendra Pradhan, founder & CEO, Coratia Technologies.
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For centuries, our nation has had a deep relationship with water. Our rivers and seas have been central to our traditions, culture, rituals, celebrations, pilgrimage, agriculture, trade and settlement.
Soon, many parts of India will celebrate the homecoming of Lord Ganesha and then carry the idol to the water. Kerala celebrates its waterways through Onam and Vallamkali. Bengal has its own immersion traditions. Across our coastal communities, festivals and livelihoods remain deeply intertwined with the sea.
If water is so deeply woven into how India celebrates, travels, trades and lives, shouldn’t we understand it more deeply?
For example, we often don’t realise that our waterways are living systems. Sediment moves. Depths change with the seasons. Aquatic habitats evolve. The relationship between water, communities and infrastructure is constantly changing.
Understanding these changes is becoming increasingly important as our ability to observe what lies beneath the surface improves.
Traditionally, much of what lies beneath the surface has been understood through periodic surveys, manual measurements and the experience of people who know these waterways intimately.
Today, technology gives us another layer of visibility.
We can examine underwater environments more regularly, precisely and safely.
Satellites help us understand the land. Drones survey landscapes in remarkable detail. Sensors monitor weather, air quality and environmental conditions.
Underwater robotics can extend that visibility beneath the surface.
A remotely operated vehicle equipped with sonar, cameras and specialised sensors can map underwater terrain, inspect submerged infrastructure, assess sediment distribution and document changes over time. The real value lies in the knowledge created through repeated observation.
When an underwater environment can be surveyed consistently, we begin to build a clearer picture of how it changes. That information can support conservation, infrastructure planning, dredging, navigation and scientific research.
India is increasingly looking at its rivers, inland waterways and coastline as important economic assets.
Cargo movement through inland waterways has grown considerably in recent years, while government initiatives are expanding the role of water-based transport and coastal shipping within India’s logistics network.
At the same time, the blue economy is becoming an increasingly important part of conversations around infrastructure, energy, fisheries, shipping, tourism and sustainable growth.
A waterway is not simply a transport corridor. Its depth, sediment profile, ecology and surrounding infrastructure all matter.
Ports need underwater structures inspected. Bridges require monitoring of submerged foundations. Inland waterways need reliable information about channels and sedimentation. Offshore infrastructure must be inspected throughout its operating life.
The opportunity, therefore, goes beyond underwater inspection. It is about creating an increasingly detailed underwater data layer for India’s water economy.
Underwater robotics can contribute to this by enabling more systematic monitoring while reducing the need for people to enter difficult or hazardous underwater conditions.
Underwater robotic systems are now increasingly being designed and developed in India for Indian operating conditions, which wasn’t the case earlier.
Our aquatic environments range from rivers and reservoirs to backwaters, ports and coastal waters. Each presents different challenges in visibility, currents, depth, sediment and accessibility.
Understanding that diversity is essential to developing technologies that are adaptable, precise and relevant to the environments in which they will operate. We are building underwater robotic systems that enable organisations to observe, inspect and understand these environments with greater precision, while reducing the need for people to enter difficult or hazardous underwater conditions.
Technology is giving India the ability to move from periodic observation to continuous understanding of its underwater environments.
For a country with extensive coastlines, river systems, reservoirs, ports and inland waterways, this can have implications far beyond inspection, from safer infrastructure and more efficient navigation to better environmental stewardship and new economic opportunities.
We believe the next phase of India’s blue economy will be built not only on how we use our waters, but on how well we understand the environments beneath them.
The opportunity is to build that capability in India, for Indian waters and ultimately make the underwater world a little less unknown.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Debendra Pradhan, founder & CEO, Coratia Technologies.
