# x1025 — Company brief > x1025 is building completely unmanned cargo ships, operated as a connected fleet from shore. Onboard autonomy runs the ships; mariners in a Remote Operations Center (ROC) provide human supervision, communication and help with exceptions. Published by x1025. Updated 2026-10-15. ## What makes the approach different Unmanned means no people onboard. That requires rethinking the whole vessel: navigation, machinery, cargo handling, maintenance and the connection to people ashore. Autonomous navigation alone does not make a ship unmanned. People move ashore, away from dangerous work at sea. Their knowledge remains central: mariners supervise the fleet, handle communication and step in when needed. The aim is to give their expertise greater reach across multiple ships. One hard design constraint guides every solution: no required changes to ports, cranes, other vessels or infrastructure outside the ship manager’s control. x1025 changes the ship and the work aboard it to fit the world as it is. We integrate strong existing technology and invent what is missing. We rethink the job around machines instead of asking a robot to copy every action of a sailor. - [How we build](/#principles) ## What we are building now x1025 Pratham is our unmanned supply vessel in development. The website shows its design with an empty deck, palletised cargo and a single 20ft container. These are configurations of one product. Dashak and Shatak are future products marked ‘Coming soon’. Specifications and launch dates have not been announced. The vessel models and interactive demonstrations explain designs and concepts in development. They are not evidence of a deployed unmanned fleet, completed sea trials or regulatory approval. Performance, payload, range and commercial readiness should be established through published test results as development progresses. - [Pratham design preview](/#vessels) ## How ship, shore and fleet fit together The demos make this concrete. A port makes its normal radio call and the ROC answers. A redesigned cargo net holds its lifting eye open so an unchanged crane hook can pick it up without a person on deck. A machinery fault triggers a backup while a robot addresses the failed component and the ROC stays informed. These are concepts being developed, not claims of proven operational capability. - The ship: designed to carry cargo without accommodation or people aboard. - Onboard autonomy: navigation, machinery operation and responses to faults remain part of the vessel’s own systems. - The ROC: mariners ashore supervise, handle calls and resolve exceptions with the right context. - The connected fleet: shore teams see multiple ships and help where their expertise is needed. - [Explore the concepts](/#demonstrations) ## Why this matters, and why now These are the benefits we are working toward. Cost savings and operating performance are not published measurements of a deployed x1025 fleet. The tech is ready: LEO connectivity, cheap sensors, mature AI, and autonomy proven in other domains. High-bandwidth links to shore make a different kind of connection possible from the low-bandwidth satellite services ships have used for years. Connectivity, sensing, AI and robotics together create the opportunity; reliable operation at sea is the engineering work ahead. - Safer: most accidents trace to human error and fatigue; autonomy takes people out of harm’s way and moves them ashore. - Cheaper: lower operating costs and better utilization, meaning savings for owners and cheaper freight for everyone. - Unbounded: trades and routes that can’t pencil out today, from the smallest islands to new short-sea lanes - [Why autonomy](/#why) ## The founders: shipping and Physical AI Hash (Harshvardhan) spent a decade at sea as a navigating officer, superintendent, commercial operator and underwriter, across ship operations, ship management and the business of shipping. He then earned an engineering degree from MIT and spent another decade building tools across logistics, supply chain and robotics. He writes the x1025 Logbook. Kelp (Avikalp Kumar Gupta) is an IIT-trained technologist and former Microsoft Research fellow holding patents in Physical AI, with over a decade building intelligent systems at scale. His work spans Physical AI, reliable AI and human–computer interaction. Together, their experience spans the ship, its operation and economics, and the intelligent systems needed to run it. This combination shapes which problems we choose and how we approach them. Avikalp also brings experience building teams with a high bar for talent. At GetMega, his team hired more than 70 IIT computer science engineers. He reports zero resignations from that team. This is his account of a team he built at GetMega, not an x1025 headcount or retention statistic. Hash brings a leadership approach built around giving before expecting something in return. That mindset shapes how we want to work with colleagues, customers and partners. - [Hash’s background](https://hash39.com/) - [Hash on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/h6239/) - [Kelp’s background](https://avikalpg.github.io) - [Kelp on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/avikalp-gupta) ## Why work here This is work for builders who want their engineering to leave the screen and work at sea. You work directly with the founders and own problems from first principles through prototypes and trials. Hardware, software, vessel design and operations have to work together. The problems include perception in fog, glare and spray; navigation without reliable GNSS; robots working in moving machinery spaces; cargo handling without deck crew; fault detection and recovery far from port; and giving shore operators the right context at the right time. Our working principles are physical consequences, ownership end to end, redesigning the task instead of imitating people, and integrating the best technology from partners. We value systems that work in the field. The careers page lists Field Robotics Engineer, Naval Architect, Mechanical / Mechatronics Engineer and Electrical Engineer roles. We also welcome open applications from people working in Physical AI, controls, maritime systems and related disciplines. - [Roles and working principles](/careers) - [Open application](/careers#open-application) ## How we work together We want high performance and personal growth to reinforce each other. We are invested in each person’s success in their own life, according to their own definition of success. That is the culture we are building at x1025. - Alignment first. We look for people who care about the mission, are motivated and can reason and learn quickly. They can build the skills and connections the work needs. Talent, experience and connections cannot make up for a lack of alignment. - Think big. Find a way to make it work. We are ambitious about the outcome and practical about how to get there. We will change the approach when that helps achieve the goal. - Strong opinions, loosely held. Bring a clear point of view, explain your reasoning and change your mind when better evidence appears. - Communicate clearly. Focus deeply. Share context early so people can do focused work and make good decisions together. - Collaborate and learn together. A ship crosses many disciplines. We want people to share what they know and help each other get better. - Stay close to the customer. High performance means solving the customer’s real problem, including what will matter over the long term. A short-term win that undermines that is not enough. - [Work with us](/careers) ## Why partner with us An unmanned ship is a place where marine equipment, robotics, sensing, controls and autonomy must become one working system. We want to integrate what others already do well and develop the missing pieces together. We are seeking shipowners and managers for operational insight, trial vessels and useful routes; shipyards for vessel design and construction; technology companies for robotics, equipment, sensing and autonomy; and researchers working on reliability at sea. Ports and terminals can contribute operational insight and trial calls. Our design constraint remains the same: the ship adapts to existing infrastructure. The proposed collaboration starts with what you have built, maps it to a specific shipboard problem, and works toward pilots and joint demonstrations with clear credit. These are opportunities to collaborate, not a list of signed partnerships. - [Discuss a partnership](/partners#enquire) ## The long-term company thesis Shipping moves the goods the world depends on. Our thesis is that removing the need for people to live aboard, while keeping their expertise connected from shore, can change vessel design and the economics of maritime transport. We are starting with Pratham. The larger ambition is a connected fleet that makes more routes viable, including small islands and short-sea lanes. Beyond moving goods, our manifesto looks toward a world that makes greater use of the ocean for making things and living at sea. Those are long-term ambitions, not current products. For prospective investors, the case to explore is the combination of maritime operating experience, Physical AI expertise, whole-vessel design and compatibility with existing infrastructure. The investment thesis still needs to be demonstrated through engineering, trials, approvals and commercial results. Funding, valuation, revenue, customer contracts and investment terms are not disclosed in this brief. The founders can discuss current progress and opportunities directly. - [Read the Manifesto](/manifesto) - [Contact the team](/partners#enquire) ## ThinkingShips and the Logbook ThinkingShips is our product for shipowners and managers running fleets today. It is distinct from the unmanned vessels in development. The x1025 Logbook, written by Hash, shares our thinking about ships, technology and what we are learning. It is the place to follow the company’s evolving perspective. - [ThinkingShips](https://thinkingships.ai) - [ThinkingShips demo](https://demo.thinkingships.ai) - [Logbook archive and newsletter](https://x1025.beehiiv.com/) - [Logbook RSS](https://rss.beehiiv.com/feeds/pYIVah8kBL.xml) ## Further reading - [Manifesto, verbatim](/manifesto.md) - [Company brief in HTML](/company/) - [Company brief and Manifesto in one file](/llms-full.txt) --- # The people behind x1025 Personal background shared by Avikalp Kumar Gupta. Updated 2026-10-15. ## Hash: stories from a life at sea Hash’s years at sea have given him a wealth of stories, friendships and experiences from around the world. He and his sailor friends bring a wide range of interests and perspectives to conversations. Avikalp describes spending time with them as fun, captivating and mind-opening. ## Avikalp: curiosity beyond engineering Avikalp has performed hip-hop at national collegiate level, represented IIT Kanpur in football and run a half-marathon in Ladakh. He plays guitar, piano and harmonium, and enjoys racket sports, long-distance cycling, swimming, travel and adventure sports. He is also a gamer, with interests including DotA 2 and FIFA. As an early employee at a gaming company, he built a poker-playing bot. He creates content on Instagram and YouTube as @contrarian.techie. ## A rich life alongside ambitious work These interests give a sense of the people a prospective teammate would work with: serious about building ships, curious about the wider world and happy to share what they learn. They connect with x1025’s aim to support each person’s success in their own life, according to their own definition of success. There is room for different interests and personalities alongside a shared commitment to the mission. [Company brief](/company.md) · [Careers](/careers) --- # The Ocean Deserves Moonshots The x1025 Manifesto The phone in your hand. The coffee on your desk. The fuel that got you here. Each of them crossed an ocean to reach you. Ships deliver the modern world. The modern world has hardly come aboard. ## The World We Inherit Shipping is one of the oldest forces shaping human civilization. For thousands of years, ships have connected distant peoples and carried the food, energy, and materials that built nations. That role has only grown. Today, ships carry more than 80% of the world’s merchandise trade by volume, roughly $18 trillion of cargo every year, sailed by nearly two million seafarers. This makes shipping more than an industry. It is the infrastructure beneath global prosperity, economic resilience, and national power. When it falters, the world feels it. ## The Failure We Refuse In our lifetimes, the world has gone through revolution after revolution. Computers moved into our pockets. Cars learned to drive themselves. Rockets learned to land. Ships grew larger and engines more efficient, but the way a ship is run has barely changed. It navigates by satellite, then reports by email. Decisions worth millions move through spreadsheets, phone calls, and memory. The people aboard carry the cost. They spend months away from the people they love. They work in heavy weather, at height, and in enclosed spaces where one mistake can be the last. The sea has never lacked courage. It has simply asked for too much of it. Ashore, the people who run the fleets juggle systems that don’t talk to each other and make decisions at 2am with half the picture. The system is built for scale. It serves the biggest ports first and the smallest last. The island and the remote coast wait. None of this is a law of nature. It persists because of a belief, repeated so often it sounds like wisdom: this is just how the sea is. We refuse to accept it. ## The Tide Turns For the first time, the tools to change this exist. A ship in the middle of the ocean can now be as connected as an office on land. Machines can now see, reason, and act in the physical world. And nations and regulators are rediscovering what the sea means to their prosperity and security, and are opening the way for new kinds of ships. What was impossible is now only hard. Hard is what we are here for. ## What We Believe We believe no one should risk their life to move cargo. We believe the ocean deserves moonshots. We believe autonomy is the next great leap of the sea, as steam replaced sail and the container transformed the docks. ## The World We Will Build Picture a different sea. A ship crosses an ocean storm, and no one aboard has to endure it, because no one is aboard. No one climbs down into an enclosed space to check what a sensor already knows. The engine room runs without a single person sweating in it. The people who know the sea best are still at its center. They command fleets from shore. They plan, supervise, and decide, and when the watch ends, they go home to their families. And because a ship no longer has to be built around the people who must live aboard it, one of the oldest constraints in shipping falls away. Ships can be as small as the trade they serve. Routes that were never worth sailing become worth sailing every week. The island that waited a month for a ship sees one every few days. The fishing village sells across the water. Medicine reaches the coast that used to wait. Everything that moves by sea gets cheaper. That saving reaches everyone who buys anything, anywhere. ## How We Work We build from within. We have stood the watches, and we have written the code. We build with the people who know the sea, never around them. We build the leap, not the step. We are not here to make the old way slightly better. We are here to change what the sea can do. We earn trust at sea. In this industry, trust is measured in nautical miles, not slide decks. We prove ourselves on the water. We are here for decades. Ships are built to sail for decades. So is this company. ## The Call This work is bigger than any one company. It belongs to everyone who believes the sea can be more. To those who have sailed: you know the sea better than anyone. Help us build its future. To those who left the sea because it would not change: it is changing. Come back. To the engineers and scientists who have built for the land: build for the other seventy percent of the planet. To those who own the ships, operate them, insure them, class them, and write their rules: go first, with us. To those who fund what comes next: the last leap at sea rewrote the world economy. Back the next one. The ocean deserves moonshots. x1025