Autonomous ships and underwater robots could play an important role in defense operations, but submersibles have historically had trouble communicating over great distances unless they rise to the surface. But the arrival of transmission presents a very clear risk of exposure.

Skana Robotics Think it’s been a breakthrough in underwater communications using AI – but not the big language models the industry prefers today.

Tel Aviv-based Skana has developed a new capability for its fleet management software system, SeaSphere, that allows groups of vessels to communicate with each other underwater across long distances using AI.

The system allows ships to share data and react to what they hear from other robots. This, Skana said, gives individual units the ability to autonomously adapt to the information they receive and change their course or task while still working towards the same overall fleet mission. The startup says its software can also be used to secure underwater infrastructure and supply chains.

“Communication between ships is one of the main challenges during the deployment of multi-domain, multi-vessel operations,” Idan Levy, the co-founder and CEO of Skana Robotics, told TechCrunch. “The problem we’re going to solve is how you can deploy hundreds of unmanned ships in an operation, sharing data, communicating at surface and underwater levels.”

Teddy Lazebnik, an AI scientist and professor at the University of Haifa in Israel, is leading research to develop this new capability. Lazebnik told TechCrunch that to build this decision-making algorithm, they couldn’t fall back on the latest AI technology, but had to use AI algorithms that were relatively old and more math-driven.

“The new algorithms have two properties: they are more powerful, but as a result, less predictable,” said Lazebnik. “Hypothetically, you pay for the performance or “wow effect” of this algorithm, but the older ones, you get clarity, predictability and in fact totality.”

Skana Robotics was founded in 2024 and came out of stealth mode earlier this year. The company is currently focused on selling to governments and companies in Europe, as the level of maritime threats increases due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Levy said the company is in talks for a large government contract that is expected to close by the end of the year. By 2026, Skana hopes to release a commercial version of its product and begin proving its technology in the wild.

“We want to show that we can use it at scale,” Lazebnik said. “We argue that our software is able to manage complex maneuvers, etc. We want to demonstrate this. We claim that we know how to manage an operation. We want the admirals from the EU and the EU countries to actually check this argument and see for themselves that we get results.”