Dynautics has won the Subsea and Underwater Intervention category at the 2026 Seawork Innovations Showcase for its Phantom 2 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV).
The award was presented during Seawork 2026 in Southampton, recognizing Phantom 2’s modular design and its contribution to next-generation subsea operations. The annual Innovations Showcase highlights new products and technologies introduced to the commercial marine sector over the previous year.
Displayed at the exhibition, the 3-meter Phantom 2 AUV is designed around a scalable architecture that can be adapted to support different payload requirements. The platform is intended for a variety of offshore, subsea, oceanographic, defense, and security applications.
Building on Dynautics’ experience with Phantom 1, a compact AUV developed for the U.S. Navy, Phantom 2 combines the company’s established autopilot technology with a modular vehicle design that enables rapid customization. The AUV incorporates a flooded central payload section that can be modified to accommodate mission-specific instrumentation, with standardized power and data interfaces simplifying payload integration.
The vehicle also features the Sonardyne Sprint Nav Mini navigation system and provides payload capacity for a range of mission-specific sensors. Current sea trials are demonstrating the integration of imaging sonar and high-resolution optical cameras, with onboard GPU processing used to identify potential objects of interest in sonar data and direct the vehicle to capture detailed imagery during a single mission.
Henry Robinson, CEO of Dynautics, commented, “This award is a proud moment for the Dynautics team and reflects the hard work behind Phantom 2. The platform has been developed in response to customer needs and growing industry demand for modular, multi-tasking AUV technology. We are now continuing with sea trials to show how we can combine imaging sonar for wide area survey, with a high-performance optical camera system to record objects at high resolution.”
Dynautics utilizes 3D modeling, digital twin development, and simulation tools throughout the design process to tailor Phantom 2 to specific customer requirements while reducing development risk and shortening time to market.
The award highlights Phantom 2’s modular approach to autonomous underwater operations and its ability to support a range of survey, inspection, monitoring, and subsea intervention applications.
