Blueye Robotics was founded in 2015 by Erik Dyrkoren together with Christine Spiten, Professor Martin Ludvigsen and angel investor Erik Haugane. Their mission was to develop an underwater drone at a reasonable price for the mass markets and as a substitute to recreational scuba diving. The target price back then was US$ 2,000.
Blueye had one predominant design goal, which was to design an underwater drone that would provide customers with exceptional user-friendliness. The Blueye Team did so through continuous market and customer research while working together with some of Norway’s best product designers at EGGS Design. The result is what Blueye strongly believes is the world’s best underwater drone - The Blueye Pioneer, which is unprecedented in both robustness and simplicity. The total stability of the drone is key to the user friendliness, making the video feed very steady and the user experience very comfortable. Another key features is self-service: the user can quickly replace the smart-battery, as well as the tether and thrusters when needed.
«We built a great team around this exciting business idea, and some of the best heads within software, hardware and underwater robotics available in Norway have worked tirelessly for over three years, pushing the limits every day», Dyrkoren says.
This piece of engineering beauty has neither been easy nor inexpensive to develop. In fact, we have repeatedly prioritized quality over cost to ensure the highest possible robustness of the drone. Hence there have been a few price increases along the way; the last one made in Q3 2017 to US$ 6,000. Now in January 2019, as Blueye is starting to ship the first products to customers, the price for one Blueye Pioneer underwater drone has been increased to US$ 9,878.
«Our pilot customers are fascinatingly satisfied with our product, and the general impression is that we have hit a sweet spot in the market of underwater inspection in terms of robustness and simplicity. The price reflects the production cost required to get to this level of quality», Dyrkoren commented to the price increase.
One customer in Aquaculture said: «The biggest advantage of the drone in our work is without a doubt the simplicity, instead of wondering if the equipment is installed incorrectly, placed incorrectly or simply not working. I can easily use the underwater drone to get answers within a short period of time.» - Martin Aspevik, Sjøtroll Havbruk
Blueye assures its followers that the original vision of the company still stands strong among its employees and owners, that is «To make the beauty of the oceans and the dangers they face, visible to everyone».
«The Blueye Pioneer is our first product on the market, and as for most new product categories, the first models will see higher production cost as well as targeting high-end and professional markets. Blueye is here to stay, and the Blueye Pioneer is a great platform for continued development and optimization in the years to come, both in terms of more features and lower prices to accommodate the needs of the larger mass markets, including consumers», Dyrkoren assures.
Note that we are not increasing the price for orders placed before the price increase.
For more information, contact:
Erik Dyrkoren, CEO Blueye Robotics, Email: erik.dyrkoren@blueye.no, Tel: +47 400 04 643
More resources:
https://www.blueyerobotics.com/page/our-story https://www.youtube.com/c/BlueyeRobotics https://www.facebook.com/blueyerobotics/