Gasgoo Munich- On January 15, Black Sesame Technologies signed a cooperation agreement with COSCO Shipping (Qingdao) Smart Transportation Equipment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited ("COSCO Shipping"), to jointly launch a maritime embodied-intelligence inspection robot project, according to a post on Black Sesame Technologies' WeChat account.
Image source: Black Sesame Technologies
The partnership marks a significant milestone for Black Sesame Technologies as it extends its robotics business into the shipping and maritime sectors, while also laying the groundwork for broader deployment of its technologies in complex industrial environments.
The project targets the demanding inspection needs of ocean-going vessels operating in highly complex environments. Joint development efforts will focus on embodied-intelligence robotic systems, edge-side intelligent control platforms, and perception and decision-making algorithms. By tightly integrating computing power and algorithms with real-world maritime use cases, the partners aim to accelerate the engineering and deployment of embodied AI technologies in scenarios that require both high complexity and high reliability. Universities, research institutes, and ecosystem partners will also be involved to create a collaborative framework spanning algorithm research, system integration, and real-world validation, shortening the path from development to application.
As COSCO Shipping's digitalization platform, COSCO Shipping Smart Transportation Equipment focuses on vessels, ports, and logistics, developing end-to-end intelligent robotics solutions for transportation. The company concentrates on robots with advanced automation and intelligence capabilities to support China's broader ambitions in maritime and shipping development. In 2025, it rolled out tank-cleaning robots and underwater hull-cleaning robots, among the first to apply robotics to hazardous and low-efficiency shipboard operations, building strong expertise in scenario understanding, system integration, and engineering execution.
Within the scope of this collaboration, COSCO Shipping Smart Transportation Equipment will contribute real operational logic from maritime settings, establish proven engineering frameworks for technology development, and offer validated compliance pathways to support eventual commercial deployment.
Black Sesame Technologies is a leading AI computing platform company, known for its strengths in domestically developed high-performance chips, system-level solutions, and edge AI platforms. In recent years, it has been systematically extending its mass-production-proven computing capabilities into robotics and embodied intelligence. In 2025, the company introduced the SesameX multi-dimensional embodied AI computing platform, offering a full-stack solution from hardware modules to system software. Its three core modules—Kalos, Aura, and Liora—are designed to flexibly support robots of varying complexity and form factors.
Under the partnership, Black Sesame Technologies will supply edge-side intelligent computing platforms along with supporting hardware and software technologies, enabling smarter upgrades for robotic inspection, equipment monitoring, and emergency response scenarios in maritime operations.
