Oshen deploys autonomous robots into Category 5 hurricane

Oshen has deployed its autonomous C-Star micro-robots to collect data inside a Category 5 hurricane—the highest category of hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale—marking a milestone for the company’s hardware. The deployment represents the first ocean robot to collect data in a Category 5 hurricane. To execute the mission, the company built 15 of its C-Star robots, sent eight of them, and threw five overboard. Ultimately, three of the bots successfully weathered the storm. The robots were deployed near the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US government agency, predicted Hurricane Humberto was headed. These C-Star robots are designed to survive in the ocean for 100 days.

The company’s path to this deployment was bootstrapped. Founders Anahita Laverack and Ciaran Dowds chose not to pursue venture capital right away when launching the company in April 2022. Instead, they spent two years iterating on the bots, using their own savings to buy a 25-foot sailboat as a testing platform. Laverack decided to build and enter a robot in the Microtransat Challenge—a competition for autonomous sail-powered micro-robots across the Atlantic Ocean—in 2021, which inspired the company’s focus on building hardware that can survive in the ocean. Testing the platform in harsh conditions proved challenging. As Laverack noted: “In the summer, that’s not too bad. The problem is you really need your boats to work in all seasons. When your robot breaks, [and] it’s a winter storm that’s raging, a 25-foot sailboat shouldn’t really be going out in those conditions. So, that led to some adventure, which I wouldn’t say any more about, but there were certainly some interesting events there.”

Following successful deployments in United Kingdom winter storms, Oshen has secured contracts with organizations including the U.K. government and NOAA for both weather and defense operations. The agency first noticed the company two years ago, and reached back out two months before the 2025 hurricane season. Now based in Plymouth, England, the company plans to raise venture capital soon to scale its operations and keep up with demand.

Why it matters

Oshen’s ability to deploy autonomous micro-robots that can survive and collect data in extreme weather conditions like a Category 5 hurricane has attracted customers across defense and government organizations, including NOAA and the U.K. government.