STEAM education for a maritime world.

Maritime robotics puts students in front of real engineering problems. Running it has usually meant a permanent pool, waterproof electronics and a lot of time to prepare, which most schools don't have. MARLIN fits in a school hall and comes ready for the water, so the time and money go into the engineering.

We developed MARLIN with the Republic of Singapore Navy, MINDEF's Future Systems and Technology Directorate and the Singapore Maritime Foundation, the organisers of Trident-X 2026. The software was co-developed with Underwater Robotics @ Berkeley.

• Computing kept safe and dry.

  Students' code runs on their own laptop. The Brain on the boat drives the motors and keeps the boat safe. That leaves room to add cameras and vision as the platform grows.

• Built for fast iteration.

  Most ideas don't work the first time, so the next attempt should be quick. Code runs on the laptop, so trying a change means pressing run again: no cable to plug into the boat, no seals to open and close. The hardware is just as quick to change. Beams, ports and hulls with a grid of mounting holes mean a new mechanism can be designed, bolted on and tested in the same session.

• Simple by design. Modular by default.

  One cable from laptop to controller, one wireless link to the boat, nothing to set up on the school network. A simple system has fewer parts to buy and fewer to break. Every part is modular and sold on its own, so if one does fail, it's a few minutes to swap and a single part to replace, not a new robot. When a feature makes the system harder to run, we take it out.

We're a team of nine, most of us engineers from SUTD. The people who design the kit also write the docs and run the workshops.

Key personnel

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  John Chai

  Co-founder · R&D Lead

  Engineering and robotics experience ranging from half-humanoid robots for healthcare to space propulsion systems.

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  Devon Cheng

  Co-founder · Operations Lead

  Design engineer with experience across 3D printing, robotics and manufacturing operations.

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  Marcus Quek

  Game Designer · R&D Engineer

  Over nine years in competitive robotics as a participant and mentor.