Will O’Brien is the co-founder and president of Ulysses, a San Francisco–based robotics company building autonomous systems for applications across defense, offshore energy, and nature restoration.

Ulysses builds and operates fully autonomous, long-endurance motherships that deploy fleets of underwater drones to handle end-to-end subsea operations at around half the cost of conventional, crewed methods. The hybrid-electric motherships stay on station for more than six months at a time and deploy both underwater and aerial vehicles for dual-domain awareness, enabling persistent monitoring both above and below the waterline. Ulysses is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Booz Allen, and Lowercarbon Capital.