Blueye X3

Blueye X3 is a professional tethered ROV for underwater inspection and intervention. Its three guest ports accept sonars, manipulators, positioning systems, cameras and lights, while the compact vehicle is rated to 305 m and supports up to five hours of operation with the high-capacity battery.

Facts

  • Company: Blueye Robotics
  • Type: Inspection Rov
  • Core: Modular guest ports
  • Function: Underwater inspection
  • Audience: Marine teams
  • Status: Commercial
  • Website: https://www.blueyerobotics.com/rov/x3

Specifications

  • Dimensions: 485 × 257 × 354 mm (L × W × H)
  • Weight Kg: 8.6 kg with salt-water ballast
  • Depth Rating: 305 m / 1,000 ft
  • Speed Mps: 1.5 m/s forward speed in normal use
  • Runtime H: Approx. 2 h with standard battery / 5 h with high-capacity battery
  • Thruster Configuration: 4 × 350 W thrusters
  • Camera Resolution: 1920 × 1080 video at 25/30 fps
  • Onboard Storage Gb: 256 GB SD card

Market context

Marine teams

  • Peer Group: Professional Inspection ROV
  • Workflow: Industrial inspection, Underwater Robotics
  • SG-1 Fathom - Helsing - Auv

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Capabilities

underwater inspection and intervention

  • Workflows: Industrial inspection, Underwater Robotics
  • Subsea survey and inspection - Customer-site use - 2024-06-20 - Blueye Robotics documents Noble using the Blueye X3 to complete 19 ballast-tank inspections in two days on an offshore unit, establishing exact-product customer-site use. - source: blueyerobotics.com
  • Robotic inspection - Research demonstration - 2024-06-20 - Autonomously followed and inspected a mooring line in real sea conditions. - environment: real-sea offshore mooring-line trial - source: frontiersin.org

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Research

  • A Sonar-Visual Dataset for Cross-Modal Underwater Robot Perception - 2026-05-31 - Research Publication - A Blueye X3 carrying its monocular camera and an Oculus M750d multibeam sonar collected synchronized optical, acoustic, temperature and pressure data in Trondheimfjord. SOVIS contains more than 76,000 paired frames from 17… - source: arxiv.org
  • Enabling scalable inspection of offshore mooring systems using cost-effective autonomous underwater drones - 2025-10-16 - Research Publication - View in article TABLE 8 Estimated cost comparison–traditional vs. proposed inspection approach. View in article TABLE 4 Comparison of BlueROV2 and blueye X3 specifications. Any alternative text (alt text) provided… - source: frontiersin.org
  • Underwater Drones as a Low-Cost, Yet Powerful Tool for Underwater Archaeological Mapping: Case Studies from the Mediterranean - 2025-01-24 - Research Publication - Researchers equipped a Blueye X3 with a DVL, USBL transponder, two downward-facing GoPro cameras and external strobes for photogrammetric documentation of a Late Roman wreck. The X3 covered the 25-by-15-metre wreck in a… - source: journal.caa-international.org

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Timeline

  • Norwegian Coast Guard equips fleet with Blueye X3 ROV systems - 2023-04-17 - Contract Award - Blueye said the contract would equip the entire Norwegian Coast Guard fleet. The X3 packages included DVL, multibeam sonar, gripper, and navigation equipment. The ROVs support inspection, search, and underwater mission tasks. - source: assets.ctfassets.net
  • Water Linked DVL A50 and UGPS support added for Blueye X3 - 2023-02-01 - Partnership - Blueye's X3 smart connector identifies the DVL A50 and exposes its functions in the vehicle's control interface. The integration adds seabed-referenced station keeping and automatic altitude control to the X3. Water Linked's UGPS… - source: waterlinked.com
  • Blueye launches X3 next-generation ROV - 2021-06-01 - Product Launch - The X3 was Blueye's third ROV model. The platform added three guest ports for external payload integration. The launch source described DVL, GPS, sonar, and app-integrated peripheral support. - source: assets.ctfassets.net

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Supply

  • oculus_multibeam_sonar_for_blueye_x3_rov - Oculus Multibeam Sonar For Blueye X3 Rov - Perception - Blueprint Subsea - Blueprint Subsea supplies perception to Blueye Robotics - source: blueyerobotics.com - source: blueyerobotics.com

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