Robocean is developing ‘Meadow Maker’, an amphibious crawler equipped with its patent-pending Spinjection system to scale seagrass restoration. This six-month project will take Meadow Maker from prototype to pre-commercial stage. The Meadow Maker prototype is a unique project which aims to improve and mechanise seagrass planting. This stage of development focused on improvements to seed dispersal and track with testing of targeted engineering, software integration, and rigorous field trials.
Our first grant enabled development from the prototype phase to a robust, user-ready planting system and so removing key restoration barriers of cost, labour, and scalability. The fully amphibious crawler vehicle is capable of traversing mud flats; equipped with 4 x Spinjection Units, capable of 1ha coverage per deployment. These technical outcomes have enabled a strong pipeline of follow‑on pilots and funding opportunities in Scotland and internationally, laying the groundwork for larger‑scale seagrass restoration and future extensions into ecosystem monitoring, sapling transplanting, and non‑intrusive seed harvesting.
Our second grant to Robocean, ‘Future Tides’ is a landmark 1.5-hectare seagrass restoration project in Montrose Basin, led by Robocean. Located on Scotland’s east coast, Montrose Basin is an enclosed estuary and wildlife reserve that already hosts one of the country’s largest intertidal seagrass meadows, making it a prime site to prove next-generation, tech-enabled blue carbon restoration.
During 2026–2028 Robocean will deploy its amphibious Meadow Maker robots to deliver precision seagrass restoration across 15,000 m² of intertidal flats, using locally sourced donor material to expand and stabilise existing meadows. This robotic approach will dramatically accelerate planting on complex terrain that is difficult, dangerous, and expensive to restore by hand, unlocking scalable seagrass recovery in a nationally important site.
By boosting seagrass cover in Montrose Basin, Future Tides will enhance nursery habitat for fish and invertebrates, support internationally important bird populations, and lock away additional blue carbon in Scotland’s coastal waters. The project embeds meaningful community engagement, inviting volunteers, and basin users to take part in monitoring, data collection, and donor material collection, building long-term stewardship for this iconic estuary.
Future Tides positions Montrose as a flagship living lab for robotic seagrass restoration, generating evidence, methods, and momentum that can be replicated across Scottish estuaries and beyond.
In 2025 SMEEF was able to provide a grant of £79,800 to support this work using resources from the Nature Restoration Fund. Further in 2026 SMEEF was able to agree a grant £187,000 from the Seagrass Meadows Scotland programme funded by SSEN Distribution.