Yearly ROV surveys of jetty piles for minor and captive ports
TL;DR Pilesight sells a fixed-price annual condition survey of the piles and underwater structure of a jetty. A small tethered ROV films every pile, software tags likely defects, and an engineer signs a report that compares this year with last. Minor-port operators and industrial jetty owners pay because it costs less than divers and catches decay early.
India's coast is lined with small and captive jetties that serve one plant, one cement maker or one fishing harbour. In Gujarat alone, the maritime board runs 44 minor ports through 10 port offices, and the state's minor ports handled 71.3% of India's minor-port traffic[1]. Their piles sit in salt water for decades.
Underwater checks are slow and risky. A 2017 report called Indian inspection methods primitive and costly, said workers risk their lives on them, and noted that industrial shutdowns for inspections can cost lakhs of rupees a day[2].
So what do most owners do? They inspect only after something visibly fails.
Pilesight turns underwater inspection into a yearly subscription. A two-person crew shows up with a compact tethered ROV, a survey boat or jetty-deck winch, and sonar for murky water. The ROV follows a set path around each pile, filming and logging position and depth.
Software flags likely cracks, spalling, exposed steel and heavy marine growth, and an engineer confirms them. The report lists every pile with this year's and last year's images side by side, so the owner sees exactly what changed.
The seed wanted swarms of autonomous underwater robots for offshore assets, and I reframed it. Swarm autonomy underwater is still a research topic, and Indian buyers want a signed report and not a fleet. Large ports and oil companies already hire established ROV firms, so the gap is smaller jetties that need a predictable, low-cost yearly check.
The payer is the jetty owner - a minor-port operator, a cement, chemical or power plant with a captive jetty, or a state fisheries harbour. The engineering or maintenance head usually signs.
One established Indian ROV firm bills per inspection day and lump sums for larger jobs[2], and I couldn't find published Indian prices for underwater surveys. Your fixed annual fee has to undercut a diver team plus downtime.
Indian-built ROVs exist now and cost less to deploy than imported ones. One Chennai ROV firm commercialised its robots with ₹1.50 Cr of Technology Development Board support[3], and another Indian maker sells 300 m rated ROVs and analysis software in India[4]. A new service firm can buy proven hardware instead of building it.
There's no public figure for India's underwater inspection market. The narrow signal is the asset base - 44 GMB minor ports[1] plus captive jetties that no public list counts.
Gujarat's minor ports handled 542 MMT of cargo in 2018–19 by one count, while another source says 400 MMT[1], so check the board's own figures. Each busy jetty is a recurring survey.
An IIT spin-out ROV firm inspects ports, dams and offshore structures on a hardware-as-a-service model, with major public ports among its clients[2]. A south Indian ROV maker sells robots and inspection services and names large port operators and oil companies among its clients[4].
Both chase large, complex jobs. Pilesight competes with a repeatable, priced yearly product for smaller owners, and might even rent their hardware.
| Difficulty | Hard (52/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹1.5–2.8 Cr |
| Time to launch | 9–12 months |
Visibility is the main technical problem. Indian coastal water is often too murky for cameras, so you need sonar and sonar isn't cheap. Defect-tagging software needs hundreds of labelled pile images before it's any help. Sales are slow too, because maintenance budgets are the first to get cut.
No sector licence covers ROV inspection itself, as far as I could find. Clients and port authorities control who gets onto the jetty.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI sign off on structural condition. A missed crack on a loaded jetty is a safety problem, so an engineer checks every flag and every clean pile.
Want to work out the AI layer for Pilesight? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this for a marine or structural engineer who can sign reports and sell to plant maintenance heads. If you're a pure robotics team without that credibility then it's a weak fit.
First prove one thing - five jetty owners will sign a two-year fixed-price survey contract after seeing one sample report.
Plan for about ₹1.5–2.8 Cr, most of it on the ROV, sonar, a survey boat setup and a trained crew.
I found no specific licence for ROV inspection. You work under each port's entry permits, need WPC approval for wireless gear and should have an engineer sign reports.
Yes, ageing jetties exist on every coast. Check local rules on commercial diving and ROV work, and who is allowed to sign structural reports.
The free Pilesight validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the permits checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for jetty owners, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Pilesight or something close to it? The make-or-break work is producing signed reports in murky water that maintenance heads will pay for every year, and pricing that yearly product is where I can help. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.