SM300 / SM200 at California

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.