SEA.AI and Barnacle Systems announce new partnership

SEA.AI, a provider of maritime machine vision using artificial intelligence based in Austria, and Barnacle Systems, a Canadian company specialising in vessel monitoring, surveillance, and fleet intelligence, have teamed up to record, store and analyse AI-detected events at sea.

The tie-up will enable the Austrian company’s real-time machine vision detection setup, which spots vessels, floating objects and potential hazards, to be captured and logged by Barnacle’s BRNKL Black, described as ‘a black box for boats’. The partners aim to provide a unified safety and intelligence system that cuts the risk of collision, supports crew decision-making, and aids post-incident review.

The partnership will enable the BRNKL system to create a permanent record of the detections, pairing visual evidence with time stamps and vessel data. The technology will log objects on the water that radar and AIS often fail to ‘see’, including unlit vessels, marine mammals, persons overboard, or partially submerged containers or debris.

Commenting on the new partnership, Marcus Warrelmann, chief executive of SEA.AI, said: “Knowing what happened is important. Being able to show what was eye-visible or detected by machine vision is a game-changer. By combining SEA.AI’s machine vision with BRNKL’s data and recording capabilities, we’re giving operators a powerful new tool for safety, training, and operational confidence.”  

Barnacle Systems CEO, Brandon Wright, commented: “The ability to automatically detect and classify vessels, buoys, and objects in the water, including those not transmitting automatic identification systems (AIS), significantly enhances situational awareness. It’s a capability we’re excited to bring to enforcement, military, industrial, and government operators who rely on accurate, complete data to make informed decisions.” 

The new setup will be on show at the Navy Tech 2026 exhibition and conference in Gothenburg during the first week of February.