Volz depth-rated actuators steer NOC polar research AUV

Volz Servos' depth-rated actuators move the control surfaces of Boaty McBoatface, the Autosub Long Range AUV run by the UK's National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton. The vehicle surveys beneath ice shelves near the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, where the servos work under high pressure and saltwater exposure.

By SamPublished November 4, 2026Updated November 11, 20262 min read

The NOC vehicle carries two Volz actuators at its stern. One drives the dive plane, which handles vertical, pitch-type movements; the other moves the left-and-right fin. NOC Senior Robotic Systems Engineer Matthew Kingsland told Uncrewed Systems Technology magazine that the centre has integrated Volz servos across its AUV fleet. The servos performed without problems for the whole mission of one NOC AUV, which has four actuators moving fins arranged in a cross and has reached a depth of 4,840 m in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain.

The DA 26-SUB from Volz is a rotary electromechanical actuator filled with oil, and it delivers a peak torque of 5 Nm. It operates from -30 °C to +70 °C and is built for survey work at depths of up to 6,000 m. Its aluminum housing is rated for at least 1,000 hours of saltwater exposure, the property that matters most for the NOC project.

Vehicles of this type let oceanographers study polar processes, such as the extent of ice melt, without a research ship staying on site throughout.

Why it matters

Volz Servos supplies actuators for advanced air mobility platforms and UAVs, with applications ranging from ailerons and blade pitch to braking and the tilting of rotors and wings. The airborne DA 26 is a 26 mm-wide brushless actuator rated at 28 VDC within a 12-32 V supply range, with PWM and RS-485 interfaces. The DA 26-SUB is listed with the same width, rated voltage and interfaces. Volz reports endurance tests of more than 3 million cycles on the DA 26 line and says the actuator is used, for instance, in the Schiebel Camcopter S100.

Volz also lists a 22 mm submersible variant, the DA 22-SUB, on the DA 22 product page. It is rated at 1.8 Nm, with 3 Nm peak torque. On the aviation side, the smaller 15 mm DA 15-N.ISS servos drive the swashplate of the High Eye Airboxer, covered in an earlier report.

For integrators, the NOC installation shows an oil-filled actuator design working under saltwater exposure and high pressure in a long-endurance polar survey vehicle.

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