Bristol-based Rovco (www.rovco.com), which provides sub-sea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services, intends to double the size of its workforce by the end of 2019, as part of a global expansion drive.

During the past year, the company has secured inspection and survey projects world-wide in the oil and gas and renewable-energy industries, and it has grown from three staff to 19.

It recently moved to new premises in Bristol that will house a research and development laboratory, where Rovco will conduct further studies into underwater artificial intelligence and live 3-D computer vision.

Brian Allen, Rovco chief executive, said: “This is an exciting time for the company, and we have identified a number of opportunities to grow our business.

“We are seeing a more optimistic outlook across the industry, and our plans for the next 12 months reflect this.

We have a number of key regions where we see opportunity for expansion, with a focus on oil and gas in the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific, North and West Africa markets.

"We are also looking to expand our offshore wind contracts in the UK and Europe.

“A key part of our growth strategy is investing in R&D. We already offer innovative solutions for sub-sea survey, but we plan to invest another £2-3 million in our technology over the next 12 months.

"We are looking at projects including applied artificial intelligence, autonomous-vehicle path planning and live 3-D underwater computer vision.”