Seasats Opened New Robotics Facility in San Diego

The 60,000-square-foot site in Bay Ho will consolidate production, research, and testing for the firm.

Updated on Oct. 7, 2026 in Robotics

A modern robotics engineering facility with industrial bay doors located on a sunny coastal waterfront, featuring metallic autonomous vessel hulls. — Seasats has opened a new 60,000-square-foot robotics facility in San Diego to centralize production and research for its autonomous surface vessels. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Seasats has launched a new 60,000-square-foot facility in San Diego, marking a fivefold expansion in size compared to its previous location. The company plans to grow its workforce by 50 percent over the coming year as it continues to develop autonomous surface vessels.

Why it matters

The company aims to automate time-consuming and repetitive maritime missions to allow sailors to focus on high-value tasks. The new site integrates research, development, production, and testing in a single location.

The new Bay Ho site spans 60,000 square feet and is five times larger than the company's prior space. Seasats manufactures the 12-foot-long Lightfish, an autonomous surface vessel used for surveillance and data collection.

The players

Seasats

An autonomous surface vessel manufacturer that has operated since 2020.

U.S. Navy

The maritime branch of the United States Armed Forces that utilizes autonomous vessels for ocean surveillance.

Marine Corps

The United States military branch responsible for expeditionary operations that utilizes technology to automate repetitive missions.

The details

Seasats employs over 100 people and currently supports maritime operations for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The new facility enables the company to streamline the production and testing cycle for its autonomous maritime technology.

Seasats began operations in 2020.
The new Bay Ho facility opened on October 6, 2026.
The company plans to grow its workforce by 50 percent over the next year.

The Tech Race

The expansion supports the increased demand for the Lightfish autonomous surface vessel in military maritime operations. This move reflects the broader push toward automating repetitive ocean surveillance missions to increase efficiency for military personnel.

The company's planned 50 percent workforce expansion may provide new local job opportunities for robotics engineers and manufacturing staff in the San Diego region. The increased production capacity could also accelerate the rollout of autonomous surveillance tools for military use.

The takeaway

This facility expansion positions Seasats to scale its production of autonomous maritime vessels as it deepens its collaboration with national defense branches. The shift allows the firm to maintain its R&D and manufacturing under one roof as it prepares to increase its staff by half.