China offers sea cable detection tech to clients in Middle East, Europe and Asia

China plans to export powerful robots capable of locating marine cables buried under the seabed to regions including “Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe”, according to the Science and Technology Daily.

China aimed to secure its position in the marine equipment sector by introducing this technology to potential clients in these regions, the official newspaper reported last Monday.

“By deepening cooperation in [these] offshore engineering markets, we will integrate Chinese intelligent cable detection solutions into the global ecosystem and bolster the international competitiveness of domestic marine equipment,” the report said.

The move represents a strategic push for China to challenge foreign dominance in marine infrastructure maintenance while strengthening the global footprint of Chinese marine equipment.

Developed by a team at Dalian Jiaotong University, the robots can locate cables buried under silt with a positioning error of less than 5 per cent and also cover exposed lines with sediment for protection.

They can operate around the clock at depths of up to 300 metres (984 feet) and maintain stability in turbulent ocean currents.

“We gave a robot two complementary eyes,” Chen Shaohua, a professor at Dalian Jiaotong’s school of railway intelligent engineering, told Science and Technology Daily.