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Holly Chik

China plans to export powerful robots capable of locating marine cables buried under the seabed to regions including “Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe”, according to the Science and Technology Daily.
China aimed to secure its position in the marine equipment sector by introducing this technology to potential clients in these regions, the official newspaper reported last Monday.
“By deepening cooperation in [these] offshore engineering markets, we will integrate Chinese intelligent cable detection solutions into the global ecosystem and bolster the international competitiveness of domestic marine equipment,” the report said.
The move represents a strategic push for China to challenge foreign dominance in marine infrastructure maintenance while strengthening the global footprint of Chinese marine equipment.
Developed by a team at Dalian Jiaotong University, the robots can locate cables buried under silt with a positioning error of less than 5 per cent and also cover exposed lines with sediment for protection.
They can operate around the clock at depths of up to 300 metres (984 feet) and maintain stability in turbulent ocean currents.
“We gave a robot two complementary eyes,” Chen Shaohua, a professor at Dalian Jiaotong’s school of railway intelligent engineering, told Science and Technology Daily.
“The sonar system scans for the general location of the cable in wide, murky waters, while electromagnetic sensors lock onto the specific route,” he explained.


By applying advanced denoising algorithms to filter out ambient seabed interference, the team said they increased the robot’s decision-making speed by 40 per cent.
Marine cables, the physical backbone of global power and telecommunications networks, are frequently damaged by shifting currents, geological activity and commercial fishing.
Maintenance has traditionally been a hazardous, time-consuming task dominated by foreign technology. The Dalian team began developing these robots in 2017 to navigate such complex, low-visibility environments.
The technology has already been deployed in major projects, including the Hainan Wenchang international optical cable installation, where it navigated complex rocky reefs, and an underwater power cable burial project off the coast of Zhejiang province in the East China Sea.
In 2023, the system set an industry benchmark during an offshore wind turbine installation project in Guangdong province, burying cables at a speed of 11.6 metres per minute.
The team is working to expand these capabilities, targeting high-precision detection for burial depths exceeding 3 metres.
The scientists are also building a 3D imaging system to provide human operators with live visual updates of the robots’ activity during underwater operations.


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The move is expected to boost the country’s competitive standing in the global marine equipment sector, official science and tech paper says


The move is expected to boost the country’s competitive standing in the global marine equipment sector, official science and tech paper says.


Middle East

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China offers sea cable detection tech to clients in Middle East, Europe and Asia

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The move is expected to boost the country’s competitive standing in the global marine equipment sector, official science and tech paper says

The move is expected to boost the country’s competitive standing in the global marine equipment sector, official science and tech paper says