US Pacific Fleet to Deploy Wall-Climbing and Flying Robots on Vessels

MaticHoleFiller · 2026-03-17T13:02:57+00:00

Gecko Robotics Company secured a $71 million contract to deploy robots and AI systems on U.S. Pacific Fleet vessels, marking the first use for ship maintenance with accurate identification of repair needs. The company plans to increase production by 50 to 60 robots this year, signaling large-scale application of robotic technology.

MaticHoleFiller

2026-03-17 13:02:57

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Pittsburgh-based wall-climbing robot company Gecko Robotics announced that it has secured a $71 million contract to deploy wall-climbing robots and AI systems on U.S. Navy ships of the Pacific Fleet. Company executives stated that this is the first time the United States has awarded such a ship maintenance contract to a robotics company.

Gecko’s robots can climb the exterior hulls of ships, crawl inside ballast tanks, and fly in enclosed spaces to collect structural and material data, which is transmitted to the company’s AI software platform called Cantilever.

The private company claims that this system detects maintenance needs with 50 times the speed and accuracy of manual inspections. In one publicly known case, a single robot inspection of the flight deck prevented over three months of potential maintenance delays.

This agreement marks the large-scale adoption of robotic technology.

Currently, Gecko operates about 250 robots for commercial and government clients and plans to manufacture an additional 50 to 60 units this year.

This five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract awarded by the U.S. Navy and the General Services Administration will initially be deployed on 18 ships of the Pacific Fleet, with the first phase of the contract valued at up to $54 million. The ships involved include destroyers, amphibious assault ships, and littoral combat ships.

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