HELVA AI
Go out with
Helva aboard.
Aboard alone,
never on your own.
The watch, the turn in the weather, the state of the machinery — Helva carries them. You are no longer pinned to the instruments, and can keep your eyes on the water.
SPEAKING FIRST / NEVER LOOKING AWAY
Helva speaks first.
Putting everything Helva senses on a screen would only give you more to look at. Helva works out what is about to happen, and tells you in a way that fits where you are and what you are doing. The same piece of news is delivered differently while you are docking than when you are running.
What Helva notices reaches you unprompted — the first move is Helva's. Holding attention for longer than a person can is the work, and the work falls in two places.
Under way — the water around you
360° camera, AIS, GPS, weather, tide. What is happening around you, watched without a break. A vessel closing, a sea state on the turn, the tide running. Which of those to raise, when, and how is settled before anything is said. Nothing arrives as a raw list of detections.
The machinery, and the days in the slip
Engine sound and vibration, fuel consumption trending, how often and how long the bilge pump runs, temperature and humidity, voltage. Things that never fail all at once, only drift a little each day. You adjust to a drift that slow — the people aboard most often are the least likely to catch it. Helva remembers how things were, and tells you only what has changed. This is what we will build and prove during the 2027 closed beta.
HELVA SPEAKING / TOKYO BAY
Written from what the hardware actually does. The collision reasoning and the alert have been confirmed running on the machine; the exchange above is not a recording of a real passage. Wording will change as development continues.
HOW IT REACHES YOU
Interrupt what is urgent.
Let the rest wait.
How something reaches you depends on how urgent it is and where you happen to be. For now: the voice, the screen at the helm, and your phone. An iPad, a smartwatch, and indicator lights come later.
Anything that changes meaning in seconds — a vessel closing — interrupts immediately. A trend worth reporting, or a piece of maintenance worth doing, waits until it will not cost you anything. Staying quiet when quiet is the right answer is part of the same design.
What is said, and when, Helva decides. Whether you are in the slip, under way, or coming in. Position, the water you are in, the weather. And for the vessels around you, the closest point of approach and the time to it are computed every second from AIS.
Finding a collision course in the camera image is being trialed at sea now.
WHY HELVA LIVES ABOARD
Helva is aboard.
The cameras are the eyes, the sensors the sense of the body. The boat itself is where Helva lives.
The watch and the alerting are worked out on board. So when the link drops, Helva will still tell you what is dangerous. The words themselves borrow some help from ashore, when there is a connection.
The captain runs the boat, as always. Helva does not take the decision away; what grows is what you have to decide with. The mind belongs to the ship. The decisions belong to her captain.
WHAT GOES ABOARD
Two screens, and one object.
Two monitors sit at the helm. Navigation on the left, cameras and conversation on the right. Both shots below are the running machine. Neither is a mock-up.
TECHNICAL
What is dangerous gets said, connection or not.
Out on the water, connectivity comes and goes. The watch and the collision reasoning are completed on board, so a warning still reaches you with no link at all. Choosing the words, and reaching for the wider picture, borrow help from ashore when there is a connection. Which parts can afford to lose the link, and which cannot, is decided in advance.
| Sensing | 360° camera / AIS (SDR reception) / GPS / attitude sensor (IMU) / weather and sea state |
|---|---|
| Compute | NVIDIA Jetson, aboard. External compute is used alongside it when connected |
| Condition monitoring | Continuous recording and change detection across sound, vibration, fuel consumption, bilge activity, temperature and humidity, and voltage (to be built during the 2027 beta) |
| Interface | The screen at the helm, the voice, and your phone. iPad and smartwatch to follow |
| Connectivity | Signal K is implemented as the intake for the boat's own data. The design receives NMEA 2000 and the other standards already aboard without adding another proprietary protocol, and it must not force you to rip out or replace the electronics you already have |
| Fitting | Boats with a hardtop or a windscreen, where a screen can go at the helm. Installed alongside your existing electronics |
Specifications are under development and subject to change.
CLOSED BETA 2027 / A SMALL NUMBER OF BOATS
News of the build, and word
when we open applications.
Ticking the box is an expression of interest, not an order. Price and specification are still under development and may change. The 2027 beta runs in Japan; warranty, support and terms of supply will be published when applications open. Please see how we handle personal information.