Ridley by Patara Labs
Autonomous intelligence for urban water.
Ridley combines a small autonomous vessel with an AI platform. It measures water conditions along a canal and helps water authorities decide where to survey next.
Context
Manual sampling gives water authorities readings from a limited number of places and dates. Europe's deadline for bringing water bodies to good status is 2027.
Ridley R1
A small vessel for surveys in city waterways.
One person can launch Ridley from a quay. The vessel plans its route, keeps clear of boats, walls and swimmers, and records water conditions continuously, with a location for each measurement.
- < 80cm
- Length
- < 10kg
- Mass
- < 15cm
- Draft
- < 35cm
- Air draft
- 3–4h
- Endurance
- 1m
- Sampling interval
Design targets for the R1 pilot unit.
What Ridley measures
Water quality
Ridley measures dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, conductivity and turbidity along the survey route.
Algal bloom warning
Phycocyanin and chlorophyll-a fluorescence measurements help identify cyanobacteria and flag potential blooms.
Bathymetry
Depth and sludge profiles help teams decide where dredging is needed.
Quay & bank condition
Lidar and images record walls above the waterline. Teams can compare these records across surveys.
Floating debris
Image recognition on board maps floating litter so cleanup crews can find the affected areas.
Open payload
A standard sensor bay accommodates partner equipment for nutrient measurements, microplastics sampling and eDNA.
Ridley Intelligence
Use today's measurements to plan the next survey.
The platform uses large language models to analyse measurements alongside weather data and asset records. We are developing it to answer questions first, then recommend and plan follow-up surveys.
Reasoning
- Query · dissolved O₂ < 5 mg/L · last 7 days
- Correlate · rainfall, water temperature, history
- Check · algal bloom (phycocyanin 1.6 µg/L)
- Detect · 340 m coverage gap near outfall
- Plan · 2 segments · 05:30 · 0.8 m/s · geofenced
Illustrative interaction
Four levels of autonomy
- 01In development
Answer
Ask questions in Dutch or English. Each answer links its numbers to the measurements it uses.
- 02In development
Recommend
The platform flags unusual readings and problems with data quality. It uses weather and previous measurements to suggest possible causes and a next step.
- 032027
Plan
Ridley plans follow-up surveys where coverage is limited or readings change quickly. It takes rain and boat traffic into account.
- 042028
Coordinate
The platform assigns survey routes across a fleet, taking coverage, battery charge and priorities into account. Operators approve actions when their policies require it.
Operators set the operating rules, geofences and approval steps. Ridley works within those limits, in line with the EU AI Act.6
Built for
For the teams looking after our waterways.
Water authorities
Repeated surveys support Water Framework Directive programmes, algal bloom monitoring and dredging plans.
Municipalities
Check quay walls and banks between inspections, locate floating litter and monitor water quality near swimming areas and event sites.
Ports & research
Survey harbours when needed, trace pollution after an incident and collect measurements over time for climate adaptation research.
Principles
Safety before autonomy.
Human oversight4
Dutch inland-navigation rules place every vessel under a competent person. During pilots, an operator stays on the quay with a remote stop.
Independent safety controller
A separate safety controller stops propulsion within 300 ms if the main computer or connection fails.
Image privacy
Ridley blurs faces and number plates on board before sending images.
EU data hosting5
Data stays in the EU. Open exports follow Dutch water-data standards.
Roadmap
- 2026
Prototype
ROS 2 autonomy, 360° lidar, independent safety controller. Closed-water trials.
- 2027
Dutch pilots
Supervised surveys with water authorities and municipalities.
- 2028
Fleets
Multi-vessel operations, autonomous docking and charging.
- 2029+
Global
Delta cities and inland waterways worldwide.
Plan a Ridley pilot with us.
We are looking for partners to join our 2027 pilots.