Scotland's Tymor Marine wins grant to turn AI draught survey tool into a phone app
What's the deal? Aberdeen-based maritime technology firm Tymor MarineDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has received grant funding from Scottish Enterprise to build an app-based version of its DRFT MRKS draught survey software. The tool uses AI and deep learning applied to video to measure a vessel's weight and load.
Why it matters: Draught readings determine how much cargo a vessel carries and what depths it can safely navigate. Since the time of Archimedes, mariners have measured this by eye — a process prone to error, where a misreading of just a centimetre can trigger legal claims over illusory cargo shortages.
What's the endgame? The grant will let Tymor refine the software into a portable smartphone app that runs without cloud-based processing. "The funding will help us to accelerate time to market with a new technology that is scalable, secure, reliable, and portable," said managing director Kevin Moran.
How it works: DRFT MRKS applies algorithms to video of a vessel to identify the water line accurately, working around faded markings, poor lighting, marine growth, and bad weather. Footage can be captured by drone or by a mariner at a safer distance, cutting the health and safety risks of reading marks close to a hull.
The backstory: Tymor originally built the software for its own naval services team, later working with Scotland's innovation centre CENSISDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and the University of EdinburghDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to optimise the deep learning. The consultancy, founded by ex-seafarer Moran and Professor Colin MacFarlane, has offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Lafayette, US.
The signal: Moran argues the next two decades of maritime digitalisation will bring more change than the past century. Moving AI processing from the cloud onto a handheld device points to where the sector is heading: cheaper, portable tools that put specialist capability in any mariner's pocket.
Read more: scottish-enterprise-mediacentre.com
Image credit: Bernard Spragg
