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Company

Sea Machines Robotics

Sea Machines Robotics is a Boston-based marine autonomy-system vendor founded by Michael Johnson, selling the SM300 and SM200 vessel-agnostic autonomous…

Track Sea Machines Robotics
Founded
2018
HQ
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Status
private (~$52M raised; $10M Series C Mar 2025)

Models

2

Overview

Sea Machines Robotics is a Boston-based marine autonomy-system vendor founded by Michael Johnson, selling the SM300 and SM200 vessel-agnostic autonomous navigation systems for commercial vessels. The STORMRUNNER is an optionally-crewed autonomous vessel for offshore operations.

Verified record

Verified deployments
None on file
Active incidents
None on file

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Key facts

Product

SM300/SM200 autonomous-command retrofit systems (vessel-agnostic); class-society-approved; 200+ delivered.

Model

Autonomy-SYSTEM sale (not a vessel maker) - credit units-delivered not sea-days.

Founder

Michael Johnson

Target vessels

Workboats and commercial vessels

HQ

Boston, MA, USA

Key product

Selkie (unmanned workboat), STORMRUNNER

Deployment

TRL 9 proven autonomy, installed in under 20 hours

Data & sources

Press releases

2

Web sources

1

3 sources backing this record.View all →

Models (2)

View all models →

Current platform

STORMRUNNER

Sea Machines' STORMRUNNER is an 8-meter HDPE unmanned surface vessel for defense customers, with a top speed of about 40 knots, over 500 nautical miles of range, and roughly 1,100 lb of payload capacity.

maritime_surfaceView model →

Current platform

SM300 / SM200

Sea Machines Robotics (Boston; founded by Michael Johnson) is an autonomy-system vendor for surface vessels rather than a vessel maker: its SM300 and SM200 autonomous-command systems are vessel-agnostic retrofit kits, about ten components installed in two days or less on existing or new-build workboats from 10 to 300 feet, so the customer owns and operates the boat while Sea Machines supplies the autonomy brain. The September 2025 SM300-NG adds class-society-approved hardware, a 200-percent compute increase, full voyage control with collision avoidance and sensor fusion, and worldwide remote command, alongside an attritable SM300-SP defense variant. A late-2024 leadership transition saw David Wasson, formerly of Huntington Ingalls, become CEO with founder Johnson moving to president and chief technology officer, a defense-pull hire rather than a distress signal given record 2024 sales and a defense expansion, on a $10 million Series C in March 2025 and about $52 million total raised. The registry records it at commercial maturity on the strength of a real shipping product, class-society approval, and more than 200 systems delivered worldwide, and it credits the company with units delivered rather than sea-days, since its autonomy runs on other companies' hulls and operational scale at sea is not directly attributable to it. Its autonomy is genuine, with edge perception, collision avoidance, path-following, and remote command, and it holds the strongest regulatory signal of the commercial set in its class-society-approved hardware, while the specific class society, named commercial customers, the SM300-SP hundred-units-per-month throughput, and specific defense contract values are not verified.

maritime_surfaceView model →

Sea Machines Robotics on the deployment map

Where Sea Machines Robotics's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.

Relationships

AAccompliceInvestor

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Sea Machines Robotics, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

  • What is a maritime robot?

    A maritime robot is an autonomous uncrewed vehicle (USV surface + AUV/UUV subsea) operating in the maritime regulatory regime for ocean data collection + commercial + defense operations. Per DEPLOY's framework, the cohort enumerates as: surface×commercial (Saildrone fleet) + surface×defense (Saronic Corsair/Mirage/Marauder) + subsea×defense triad (Anduril Dive-LD + Anduril Ghost Shark + HII REMUS) + subsea×commercial (Bedrock Ocean) + autonomy-system (Sea Machines) + hybrid surface+subsea (Ocean Aero Triton) + legacy-prime entity-scoped (Kongsberg HUGIN AUV + Exail DriX USV). Editorial throughlines: regime matrix (surface×commercial vs surface×defense vs subsea×commercial vs subsea×defense vs autonomy-system vs hybrid); new-defense maritime extension (Saronic + Anduril extend Anduril+Helsing+Shield-AI new-defense from aerial into water, contrasting HII REMUS legacy prime); entity-scoping discipline (registry entity scoped to AI-primary vehicle not parent corp); captive-data-as-a-service vs hardware-sale vs autonomy-system-vendor business-model split.

Current leadership (1)

Founders (1)

Safety record

No incidents on record for Sea Machines Robotics.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →

Recent coverage

Sea Machines Robotics in third-party press

Sea Machines STORMRUNNER USV supports counter-UAS capability test

Jun 30, 2026

Sea Machines Announces Emerging Record Year of Bookings and Global Growth Fueled by USV Adoption

Apr 22, 2026

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