OceanGate will use 'citizen scientists' for ocean exploration

I've never been good at video games. Turns out, I probably also wouldn't be very good at steering a small robot around the ocean floor.

But I got to try it out yesterday when I dropped in on a demonstration by OceanGate, an Everett-based start up that's trying to pioneer an entrepreneurial business model for ocean research.

The folks at OceanGate had a try-it-yourself tank set up at the University of Washington. I stopped by to, well, try it myself.

"It," in this case, was navigating a small ROV submarine around a deep pool inside the UW Ocean Sciences building.


People test the ROV submarine by using dials and knobs to control the speed, depth, and angle of the small submarine. (Matthew Williams / The Herald)

My objective: Pick up a golf ball from the bottom of the pool and place it on the end of a pipe. Couldn't be too hard, right?

It's probably not very hard. But it's much easier to run the ROV into a collection of pipes inside the pool. And it's even easier to get tangled in another ROV's tether, just moments before its operators are about to complete their golf-ball task. (You're welcome, guys.)

That's when OceanGate Marketing Coordinator Ryan Mallett took the controls and untangled the ROVs, pretending all along that I wasn't doing that badly.

The OceanGate staff is pretty patient with "non-scientists" like me. Their business model depends on it.


Elizabeth Keddy, Science Coordinator for OceanGate, helps Gordon Rock of Seattle test the ROV submarine. (Matthew Williams / The Herald)

OceanGate is debuting a funding model that incorporates adventure tourism and citizen education to make research more affordable.

For now, OceanGate is working through the necessary steps to get its newly-acquired research submarine Antipodes certified in the United States. When that processes wraps up in the fall, they'll be open for business, taking so-called "citizen scientists" along on research expeditions for a fee.

Co-founder Guillermo Söhnlein hasn't settled on exactly how much it will cost to be a part of research projects, and some of that will depend on whether it's a day-long outing or a trip that lasts closer to a week.

The cost of peering at the Titanic's wreckage through a tiny window in a submarine runs close to $40,000.

Söhnlein, who worked with tech start ups before launching OceanGate with an angel investor last fall, says he wants to solve a problem: Much of the ocean is unexplored, mainly due to research-funding shortages.


Guillermo Söhnlein, co-founder of OceanGate poses for a portrait in front of the submarine Antipodes. (Matthew Williams / The Herald)

OceanGate started out as a simple idea -- that scientific research and adventure tourism might be a good pairing.

"We're packaging it in a way that gives them an opportunity to actually participate in field research," Söhnlein said. "They're going to have some role -- they're not just going to sit there."

Some researchers were skeptical of the idea at first, he said. But educators are used to helping novices find their away around a difficult field of study, and scientists at non-profits and government agencies tend to recognize that the idea holds promise as a funding model.

Eventually, Söhnlein would like to see this business model replicated around the world.

Interested in more information? Visit www.opentheoceans.com to find out more.

We'll revisit this company in the future, so let me know what question's you'd like answered.

Know a small business we should write about? Contact Herald writer Amy Rolph at arolph@heraldnet.com.

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