Robot model
Wave Glider
The Wave Glider is a wave- and solar-powered persistent autonomous surface vehicle made by Liquid Robotics, a wholly-owned Boeing subsidiary, recorded in the…
- Manufacturer
- Liquid Robotics
- Form factor
- maritime_surface
- Maturity
- commercial
- Lifecycle
- active
- Deployments
- 1
- Website
- liquid-robotics.com ↗
The verified answer
As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Wave Glider, a maritime surface by Liquid Robotics (commercial): 1 verified deployment on record. 4 sources back the record.
Overview
The Wave Glider is a wave- and solar-powered persistent autonomous surface vehicle made by Liquid Robotics, a wholly-owned Boeing subsidiary, recorded in the maritime form factor with the entity scoped to the Wave Glider product and Liquid Robotics as the maker. It converts wave motion into forward thrust through a submerged sub-float tethered to a surface float and uses solar power for its payloads, giving it theoretically indefinite endurance for ocean data collection, maritime domain awareness, and scientific work across defense, commercial, and science customers.
The registry confirms its active state: Liquid Robotics remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, acquired on December 6, 2016 and relocated to Herndon, Virginia in 2022, and is neither divested nor wound down, correcting an earlier possibly-divested hypothesis, while the Wave Glider remains an active product with a 2025 Boeing and Liquid Robotics memorandum of understanding with India's Sagar Defence Engineering to co-produce Wave Gliders and a Pune manufacturing facility inaugurated in December 2025. Its editorial throughline is the persistent-presence-via-energy-harvesting archetype, the second example in the cohort alongside the Ocius Bluebottle, with both wind, wave, and solar indefinite-endurance vessels, the Wave Glider carrying the deeper Pacific operational history and Ocius the newer Royal Australian Navy program entry.
Specific current customer rosters and fleet counts are not enumerated given limited Boeing-subsidiary disclosure, the India co-production is a memorandum and a facility rather than a delivered-units figure, and any aggregator-quoted deployment totals should be treated as company-sourced.
Verified vs. claimed
- Maturity stage
- commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
- Sources on file
- View all sources →
Key facts
Form factor
Power source
Endurance
Maker
Maturity
Specs
Notes
Specs
Runtime
Max speed
Weight kg
Form Factor
Data & sources
Press releases
3
Web sources
1
4 sources backing this record.View all →
Pricing
No verified price is on record for Wave Glider. Physical-AI systems are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price.
Deployments (1)
- Wave Glider at Honoluluoperational
Liquid Robotics Wave Glider autonomous surface vehicles deployed by NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) for marine ecosystem health assessment around the main Hawaiian Islands.
Wave Glider on the deployment map
View the global mapWhere Wave Glider is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Liquid Robotics Wave Glider
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedJun 1, 2024
at Honolulu
Deployment-verified media (1)
Liquid Robotics' explainer of how its Wave Glider works: a two-part wave-propelled uncrewed surface vehicle (a surface float and a submerged glider) with solar-powered payloads. Autonomy here is long-endurance propulsion, navigation, and station-keeping; missions are tasked and supervised from a remote operations center.
From deployment: Honolulu
Supply chain (1)
Sensors
- Teledyne TechnologiesTeledyne acoustic instruments -- ADCP ocean current profiler and multi-beam sonar payloadssupplies
Suppliers appear here when verified with at least two strong sources (maker-official / IR / regulatory / standards-body / verified tier-2). Sources are append-only; corrections add new sources rather than rewrite history.
Safety record
No incidents on record for Wave Glider.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Sources (4)
Common questions
What is Wave Glider?
How much does Wave Glider cost?
Is Wave Glider actually deployed in the real world?
What are the specs of Wave Glider?
Who makes Wave Glider?
Where is Wave Glider deployed?
Can you buy Wave Glider?
What are alternatives to Wave Glider?
How does Wave Glider compare to Corsair?
Is Wave Glider a top maritime_surface?
What is Wave Glider's maturity stage?
Is Wave Glider safe?
Methodology: Verified · 4 sources (3 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-15
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-15
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: commercial
Lifecycle: active
Architectural position
Cohort: maritime_surface
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 1
- knowledge-base
- Knowledge base
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Wave Glider.Recent coverage
Wave Glider in third-party press
Attention vs reality over time
Media mentions per month (area) against verified deployment events (dots). A press spike over a flat deployment line is the hype gap, drawn over time.
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Wave Glider from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Boeing Sends Liquid Robots to Defend Japan - The Motley Fool
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A Little Robot Survives A Battle With Hurricane Sandy - IEEE Spectrum
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Innovative ocean robot sets its microscopic sights on a global problem - Boeing
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Ocean Going Robots Known As Wave Gliders - BoatWatch.
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Liquid Robotics Introduces New Wave Glider Platform - hydro-international.com
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Liquid Robotics Debuts Next Generation Wave Glider - Marine Technology News
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Boeing to Acquire Liquid Robotics to Enhance Autonomous Seabed-to-Space Information Services
Boeing announced the acquisition of Liquid Robotics to enhance autonomous seabed-to-space information services. The Wave Glider will continue operating under Boeing.
Liquid Robotics acquired by Boeing Defense, Space & Security - The Robot Report
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Boeing buys Liquid Robotics to boost autonomous surveillance at sea - GeekWire
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Boeing to Acquire Liquid Robotics to Enhance Autonomous Seabed-to-Space Information Services - Boeing Newsroom
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Liquid Robotics Continues Its Growth-By-Partnering - The Robot Report
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Liquid Robotics Unveils Wave Glider SV3 Ocean Robot - SlashGear
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Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /models/liquid-robotics-wave-glider.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/models/0539265e-c6e0-4555-98fd-32f57b0a49b5
- Revision history: /models/liquid-robotics-wave-glider/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Reality vs attention
Wave Glider draws attention at the 41st percentile but verifies reality at the 24th percentile among maritime_surface robots. Hype Gap +16.8, 8th widest among maritime_surface robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Thin deployment record; scale validation still in progress.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Sep 2, 2026