"Nothing gold can stay"

As the world got a bit brighter with the fall colors, the days got shorter, work (for us) got more intense as we launched deeper into our customer discovery phase and life got super intense!

As most of us prepare for the onset of winter (and lament the very short Autumn), it turns out that the seaweed farmers in England are preparing for their seaweed- seedling plantation. Laminaria SP and Saccharina SP are some of the species being cultivated.  If you visit these farms towards end of January, you can see the flourish of life begin.

This was an exciting week of learning , doing and preparing.

1. Learning - Dr Stephanie Mann of Offshore Renewables Catapult reminded us that biofouling is a major cause of concern.

   

   Because of this UK farmers harvest before summer to reduce loss and pest/biofouling damage due to warm waters. Dr Jose Jimenez Zarco of Imperial College mentions that seasonality is important as well, especially in temperate latitudes with greater seasonal swings.

   

   Thierry Tonon and Leo Gomez of University of Yorkshire recommended to keep the health of the crop in mind when we finally embark on live operations. Alec Watt of GreenWave Farming mentions how sea urchins have eaten populations of Seaweed due to their predators like Sea Otters being near extinct(another example of biodiversity loss causing escalating effects). 
   

   

   

2. Doing - We have now started preparing our prototype for actual tests. We are now in talks with partners to put our little robotic sensor device in ocean environments with an actual population of seaweeds. Until now it has only been in lab environments so this will be a big milestone for product manager/designer Alex and product manager/strategist Joyeeta :) Thanks to Iain and Rhianna of SAMS who have partnered with us for some part of the tests due in January.

   

   

   Ecosystems like ocean tech need all the help they can and we are thankful organizations like Green Wave farming (Alec Watt) and SAMS opening their doors to us.

3. Preparing - We are now working on getting our baby out the door so it can continue to grow outside ! Taking our device out of the lab requires preparation on many fronts, field research, data collection, permissions in some cases. To be honest the cylinder looks so much like a bomb with wires sticking out- we have no idea how to explain it to security at various points. We have been busy on all fonts getting ready for the big day - wish us luck!!

Enjoy the tiny bit of Autumn left as winter knocks at our door. Remember to soak it all in- life is too short and given what we are experiencing as climate change outcomes- who knows what beauty disappears when from our lives…

This is the gorgeous London Somerset House Building (where our lab exists).

No we are not in the nice bit- we are tucked away in the basement where hardware/robotics labs live.

“Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.”- Robert Frost