As embodied intelligence accelerates its transition from laboratory settings to industrial deployment, the ocean is emerging as one of the most challenging yet commercially promising arenas for robotics technology. Unlike terrestrial environments, marine operations confront formidable conditions including ocean currents, wind and waves, complete darkness, low visibility, high salinity, extreme pressure, and limited communications, demanding far greater capabilities in perception, control, navigation, and reliability from robotic systems.
Shihang Intelligent Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., focused on the research, production, and maintenance of general-purpose marine robots, has developed a comprehensive product and technology framework spanning water depths from 0 to 10,000 meters. Its robots are already operational across more than 20 ports globally, serving applications such as vessel hull cleaning, port dredging, marine photovoltaic installations, offshore wind farms, marine aquaculture, and deep-sea exploration.
Building a comprehensive marine embodied intelligence ecosystem
Shihang has established a proprietary "One Brain, Multiple Machines, All-Sea-Domain" marine embodied intelligence architecture. The "One Brain" refers to the marine embodied general-purpose large model called "Cangqiong CEORION." The "Multiple Machines" encompass three product lines: the Orca, the Mako Shark, and the SeahiX series. The "All-Sea-Domain" designation indicates that its products cover operational ranges from the water surface, through shallow seas, down to hadal depths of 10,000 meters.
Core systems and technological breakthroughs
Regarding the robot hardware itself, Shihang Intelligent reports that it has completed independent development of six critical subsystems: propulsion, control, sensing, navigation, pressure resistance, and launch and recovery. According to company data, its magnetically coupled propulsion system supports stable operation for over 10,000 hours. The full-degree-of-freedom motion control system is engineered to cope with waves, currents, swells, high salinity, and highly corrosive conditions, maintaining operational stability even in strong ocean currents.
The sensing system employs acoustic-optical fusion and algorithmic enhancement technologies, enabling environmental perception and task execution in waters with near-zero visibility. A multi-sensor integrated navigation and positioning system supports autonomous operations under complex sea conditions. The pressure-resistant sealing system covers depths from 0 to 10,000 meters, while the launch and recovery system enhances the efficiency of deploying and retrieving robots.
The Cangqiong CEORION model
On April 25, 2026, Shihang Intelligent officially released the "Cangqiong CEORION" marine embodied general-purpose large model. The company states that this model utilizes a proprietary LWAM unified architecture, integrating semantic understanding, environmental modeling, and action generation into an end-to-end neural network. This allows robots to comprehend natural language instructions and execute corresponding actions based on the underwater environment. According to information released by the company, the model currently covers 12 categories of underwater tasks, including inspection, detection, cleaning, grasping, cutting, welding, exploration, search and rescue, emergency response, mining, maintenance, and carbon sequestration.
Product portfolio across depth ranges
In terms of product specifics, the Orca series targets waters from 0 to 300 meters, the Mako Shark series is designed for surface operations, and the SeahiX series is built for deep-sea scenarios ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 meters. All three series share the six core subsystems and the "Cangqiong CEORION" model, and can be adapted for different tasks by swapping out modules for cleaning, inspection, or grasping functions.
Commercial traction and industry recognition
On the commercialization front, Shihang Intelligent's marine robots have collectively cleaned over 1,000 vessels and are conducting routine operations at ports including Tianjin Port and Yantai Port. During the first half of 2026, the company's order value exceeded RMB 1 billion.
Company records show that in January 2026, Shihang Intelligent took the lead in formulating the "Underwater Cleaning Robot Operating Procedures" together with institutions such as the Water Transport Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport. In March of the same year, the company received the First Prize for Science and Technology Progress from the China Institute of Navigation. By April, it was accepted into the Maritime Singapore Core Maritime Programme under the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
The company has stated it will continue to advance the research, development, and application of general-purpose marine robots, embodied intelligence models, and full-ocean-depth operational capabilities.