It is not common to carry out such pre-sales in Norway, but now we show that pre-sales are also possible in the Norwegian aquaculture industry.
Four months after the unveiling at AquaNor, Watbots has received well over 200 pre-orders of their double-sided autonomous robots that wash and inspect aquaculture nets 24/7.
There is now a queue to be able to receive and use the robots. This shows that the fish farmers have as much faith in the product as we do, says Kim André Eide, sales manager at Watbots. From the first moment I joined the company I said that there will be a queue to use this robot, and we see that this is already the case. This is a robot that will set the standard for washing nets in the aquaculture industry. The robot has wireless operation, nothing that grabs or climbs in the net. There is no need for thrusters, you get daily washing and inspection, wireless charging and a complete overview of operation and service from the control center. This is a total package we believe no one can offer, and we are very happy that our customers feel the same, says Eide.
These are very large and important pre-orders for us, says Håvard Lillebo, CEO at Watbots. It costs NOK 1,000 per robot to pre-register, but what is most important to us is the acceptance of our business model with a rent of NOK 25,000 per robot per month and that we get customers to deliver to. It is not common to carry out such pre-sales in Norway, but now we show that pre-sales are also possible in the Norwegian aquaculture industry. The large number of pre-sales have given us the opportunity to further accelerate the development of the autonomous robot, and we look forward to showing our pilot customers everything we have done, Lillebo concludes.