10168541Autonomous Underwater Drone for Ecosystem Monitoring and Impact VerificationClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKSeavox is developing the first transparent ecological monitoring platform for marine environments to support environmental planning, ESG reporting, and regulatory compliance. Our AI-powered underwater drone system is being designed to autonomously collect high-resolution biological and environmental data, enabling 3D-habitat-reconstructions, biodiversity tracking, and fish biomass monitoring using proprietary AI recognition models. This allows long-term assessment of ecosystem health dynamics. Globally, a lack of transparent, high-integrity ecological data hinders marine protection, restoration-finance, and regulatory enforcement. Seavox aims to fill this gap. All outputs will be geotagged, timestamped, and secured via blockchain to create tamper-proof, audit-ready records. These verified data streams will enable smart contracts that release funding when measurable ecological targets---such as increases in coral cover or species richness---are achieved. Seavox will also support predictive AI models to assess historical industrial impacts, particularly from activities like deep-sea trawling. This will enable stronger enforcement, inform policy development, and unlock market-based exploitation offsets that require corporations to transparently fund or participate in restoration efforts. **The Seavox system integrates:** * Autonomous AI-navigation * Species recognition and biodiversity scoring * Environmental sensing (pH, salinity, turbidity, temperature) * 3D-imaging via Gaussian Splatting * RED-Digital-Cinema's ultra-high-resolution cameras (provided in-kind) * Blockchain-secured reporting Seavox builds upon the WARPLab autonomy framework developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which accelerates our underwater navigation and mission execution. We are developing novel ecological mission planning and proprietary AI models to score reef health, estimate biomass, and quantify biodiversity. These modules are led by our founding team, including marine biologist Dr. Zac Boaks (PhD, University of Bournemouth), co-founder Aaron Jessop (PhD candidate, University of Plymouth), AI lead and co-founder Luka Corliss (Imperial College London), visual recognition expert Dr. Doga Basaran (PhD, Imperial College London), platform architect and co-founder Monty Rhodes (University of Bristol), and co-founder David Rytz (PhD-researcher, University-of-Oxford). Our MVP will launch in Dorset in collaboration with Blue-Marine-Foundation. It is designed to support the needs of UK regulatory bodies such as DEFRA and Natural-England, alongside local conservation groups and environmental investors seeking transparent, verifiable data for marine restoration and ESG accountability. **Advisory Board:** * Zafer Kizilkaya (Goldman-Prize, Mediterranean-Conservation-Society) * Dr. Nick Hardman-Mountford (Conservation-International) * Prof. Joerg Wiedenmann (University-of-Southampton) * Michael Aw (Ocean-Geographic) * Dan Hardy (CEO-ASEL) * David Cotterill (MBNL) * Jake Edmiston (Blue Marine Foundation) * Candice Cowan (RED Digital Cinema) * Dr. Maria Potouroglou (DEFRA) --- advising on biodiversity credits and blockchain integration We are also in conversation with Dr. Sylvia Earle (Mission-Blue) and Vincent Pieribone (OceanX) to join our advisory board.