Liquid Robotics

Liquid Robotics is an American marine robotics corporation that designs, manufactures and sells the Wave Glider, a wave and solar powered unmanned surface vehicle (USV). The Wave Glider harvests energy from ocean waves for propulsion. With this energy source, Wave Gliders can spend many months at a time at sea, collecting and transmitting ocean data. The vehicles host sensor payloads such as: atmospheric and oceanographic sensors applicable to ocean and climate science, seismic sensors for earthquake and tsunami detection, and video cameras and acoustic sensors for security and marine environment protection purposes. The company was founded in 2007 in Sunnyvale, California. In December 2016, the company was acquired by The Boeing Company and is a wholly owned subsidiary, part of Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security organization. In February 2022 the company relocated to Herndon, Virginia. The Wave Glider was originally invented to record the singing of humpback whales and transmit the songs back to shore. In 2003, Joe Rizzi, Chairman, Jupiter Research Foundation, set out with the goal to design a system that could hold its position at sea—even if it wasn’t anchored in place—and operate 24/7 without harming the environment or the whales. After a few years of experimenting, he enlisted the Hine family to help develop an unmoored, station-keeping data buoy.