The Peel with Turner Novak The Ocean: Earth’s $2.5 Trillion Last Frontier | Will O’Brien, Co-founder of Ulysses
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Aug 29, 2025 
Will O’Brien, Co-founder and CEO of Ulysses, is passionate about ocean exploration and the economic potential of the sea, valued at $2.5 trillion. He discusses how Ulysses is developing modular, autonomous robots to help restore marine ecosystems. The conversation also dives into innovative ocean business models, including floating cities and treasure hunts, while highlighting the connection between conspiracy theories and entrepreneurship. O’Brien shares insights on navigating government contracts and the unique challenges of promoting ocean technology.
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Ocean Is This Century’s Strategic Domain
- The ocean will be the strategic domain of the 21st century because it hosts data, energy, minerals, climate regulation and biodiversity.
- These combined roles give the ocean systemic tailwinds that will shape global power and economy.
Design Read/Write Ocean Platforms
- Build an autonomy platform that both 'reads' (sensors/cameras) and 'writes' (robotic interventions) in the ocean.
- Design vehicles as general-purpose platforms to serve inspections, restoration, and physical interventions.
Heavy-Tech Bottleneck In Maritime Ops
- Current maritime operations lean on large crewed surface vessels and expensive legacy unmanned systems, creating a heavy-tech bottleneck.
- Autonomous, smaller surface vehicles with launch/recovery and wireless recharge can cut costs and operate 24/7 without humans aboard.