Copenhagen Subsea Rolls Out the Gorilla ROV

Denmark-based Copenhagen Subsea has launched its new remotely operated vehicle (ROV) – Gorilla – as robust and reliable solution in challenging subsea environm



The Gorilla ROV is equipped with an intelligent dynamic positioning (DP) system and is based on Copenhagen Subsea’s rim-driven thruster technology and standard electronic components from Japanese electronic supplier OMRON.

The Gorilla is a 1.5 x 1 meter underwater robot capable of diving down to 600 meters, designed for offshore inspection tasks such as drilling platforms or offshore wind turbines. It carries up to 70 kg and has an easy-to-understand payload interface with a power supply and separate fiber cable connection, dedicated to customer-specific requirements.

“Often customers ask us if we can mount our electric thrusters on their existing subsea vehicles. Such retrofitting is relatively expensive, because electronics often must be replaced too. That’s why we decided to develop a complete solution from scratch in the form of an ROV optimized for such customer needs,“ explains Allan Nygård Berthelsen, Copenhagen Subsea CEO.

“Reliability has been our highest priority throughout the design and development phase. By combining our existing electric thrusters with OMRON’s industrial components, we have built a vehicle that ensures the utmost operational reliability, allowing our customers to execute their tasks on time, to budget and safely, and with no need for divers in the water,” Nygård Berthelsen continues.

“The Gorilla builds on the success of our original thrusters, which we already sell all over the world, and have global ambitions for this ROV too. We expect a significant market among operators who need to perform technically challenging offshore work, in conditions that are always tough and can change rapidly.”

The Gorilla design means it is easy to operate and solves a number of common problems in offshore work, with automatic control of position, depth, altitude, heading, pitch and roll and ability to sense the seafloor from up to 70 meters above.

Copenhagen Subsea believes that its integrated standard industrial hardware electronics which are better, cheaper and more thoroughly tested than anything many ROV manufacturers could produce themselves is a critical differentiator for the Gorilla’s reliability.

“We at OMRON are proud of our involvement in the state-of-the-art Gorilla ROV from Copenhagen Subsea. Our components are designed for longevity in extreme environments and thus complement and enhance the robustness of the Gorilla, providing it with a critical differentiating factor compared with other ROVs. Our involvement with the Gorilla demonstrates that OMRON parts have the potential to make sophisticated machinery even more robust and easy to maintain in tough conditions,” says Per Pilegaard, country manager, OMRON in Denmark.

Location: Copenhage, Denmark