Zelim’s ZOE becomes world’s first fully certified MOB system

Image courtesy Zelim

This follows extensive sea trials on board the Ambition vessel, managed by Ambassador Cruise Line – the first time the ISO testing has been completed on a cruise vessel.

The performance of ZOE was monitored whilst the cruise ship was underway for a continuous period of 90 days, during which the ZOE system achieved a 97% detection rate during simulated man overboard tests, exceeding the ISO’s minimum requirement. 

The standard that ZOE has met – ISO 21195 – is a globally-recognised benchmark, developed in collaboration between the cruise industry, the US Coast Guard and technology providers, which sets out the minimum required performance for automatic man-overboard detection systems used on passenger ships.

Whilst child detection is not a requirement as part of the ISO assessment, ZOE’s certification has made it the first MOB detection system capable of detecting both adults and children using ISO 21195.

The certification of ZOE is expected to have a significant impact on the cruise industry and the maritime sector more widely, offering a reliable, proven solution to meet requirements outlined in The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 (CVSSA). 

Developed by Zelim, ZOE MOB harnesses advanced computer vision and video analytics to deliver 360-degree surveillance for vessel crew. The system is trained on a proprietary maritime dataset of over 9.5 million annotated objects and is designed to detect man-overboard incidents instantaneously.

This ISO award reflects Zelim’s ongoing mission to make unmanned search and rescue the industry standard. Having completed all three phases of ISO 21195 testing, the company will now focus efforts on securing widespread global uptake of the ZOE technology, both in the global cruise sector and in other industries such as defence. 



Sam Mayall, Zelim’s Founder and CEO said: “Following years of meticulous development and fine-tuning, being officially certified by Lloyd’s Register is a landmark moment for our ZOE technology, placing Zelim at the forefront of man-overboard detection. 

“The 90-day testing window spanned the winter months, where our technology was exposed to challenging weather conditions and sea states. Despite this, our false alarm rate was considerably lower than the ISO minimum requirement, reinforcing ZOE as a system operators can trust and rely on – with both its detection accuracy and low false alarm rate. 

“Being deployed on the Ambition vessel makes ZOE the first MOB system permanently installed on a cruise ship that is certified to ISO 21195 by Lloyd’s Register, paving the way for worldwide adoption across the cruise industry – and beyond.”

Mike Collier, Zelim’s Sales Director said: “Cruise lines have been waiting for the availability of a certified system for a long time and having the credibility of ZOE validated by Lloyd’s Register positions it as a pioneering and valuable solution to the industry’s long-standing challenge.

“With ZOE demonstrating less than one false alarm per day in field tests, it goes over and above the requirements outlined in the ISO, offering next-generation technology that has the potential to make a step-change in maritime safety.”

Claudene Sharp-Patel, Global Technical Director at Lloyd’s Register, said: “Lloyd’s Register is pleased to give ISO 21195 certification to Zelim for its man-overboard detection system, demonstrating it has been independently assessed against a rigorous global standard. Lloyd’s Register is first and foremost a safety organisation and so this work sits at the heart of our purpose to provide assurance to the maritime industry and support safe operations.”