Sam Fortescue reports on the latest developments in autonomous boats and self-sailing technology, which is ready to be deployed in a variety of uses from weather monitoring to shipping\u2018Vessel not under command\u2019 looks set to take on a new meaning, with the race to develop a new generation of autonomous boats sailed by artificial intelligence (AI). But what will it mean for other water users?
\nToday we\u2019re all familiar with the concept of autonomous vehicles. Self-driving cars are the next development frontier, and the tools needed to make them a reality are being intensively tested by some of Silicon Valley\u2019s biggest tech firms.
\nLess well known is the similar trajectory being followed in the marine industry. So-called unmanned autonomous vehicles, or marine drones, are attracting research interest from everyone from backyard inventors up to engineering behemoths like Rolls-Royce.
\nThey come in all shapes and sizes, with intended purposes varying from meteorology and oceanology, to cargo, surveillance and defence. From the outside, some resemble normal sailing multihulls.
\nYou might never realise there is no human aboard Artemis Technologies\u2019 self-sailing cat, for example, with its 50-knot top speed. The Belfast-based company has based its design for a 45m-long Autonomous Sailing Vehicle (ASV) on technology developed for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup.
\nArtemis Technologies\u2019 autonomous boat design is based on the 2017 America\u2019s Cup catamaran. Photo: Artemis Technologies
\nWith two fixed wing sails, the catamaran rises up on four foils and hits top speed in just 20 knots of wind. Regenerating propellers on two of the foils charge a large battery bank on board, and that harvesting of energy brings the boat speed back down to 30 knots.
\nIn lighter 8-knot winds, the boat still foils at 20 knots, and electric motors spin propellers that bump the speed back up to its optimum 30 knots. Artemis believes it can be used as a constant-speed commercial vessel for delivering cargo.
\nMeanwhile, in Plymouth, a consortium including IBM is testing a new Mayflower, a 15m power trimaran studded with solar panels, that should be capable of operating independently for months at a time. It has a top speed of 10 knots achieved with an electric motor drawing power from batteries topped up by solar.
\nThe purpose of the boat is to collect oceanographic data, with sensors on board collecting information on marine mammals, ocean plastics, sea-level mapping and maritime cybersecurity.
\nSee and avoid
\nThe sheer size of some autonomous boats, and the astonishing speed of Artemis\u2019s ASV, highlights the need for safe navigation. Such vessels carry a plethora of collision avoidance systems. While AIS technology has revolutionised collision avoidance over the last decade, it is not universally adopted among fishing vessels or yachts.
\nInshore, where marine traffic is at its most dense, many dayboats will lack even a radar reflector. Other solutions, therefore, were required.
\nMayflower, computing giant IBM\u2019s autonomous vessel. The 15m boat is scheduled for a maiden voyage Atlantic crossing in April 2021. Photo: Tom Barnes
\nOn Mayflower, computing giant IBM has installed its PowerAI Vision technology to crunch the inputs from onboard cameras that use both normal and infrared light.
\nIn the development phase, so-called \u2018deep learning\u2019 is enabling the computer to spot navigational hazards from buoys to floating debris.
\nThis complements radar and laser range-finding to help the boat\u2019s software decide on the best tactic for avoidance. \u201cWe\u2019re testing the system, but it is designed to be COLREG compliant and should spot things as small as a man in a rowboat and be able to avoid it,\u201d said Brett Phaneuf, co-director of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project.
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTorbj\u00f6rn T\u00f6rnqvist, head of Artemis Racing \u2013 the quiet man of the America\u2019s Cup<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou have to look carefully to spot Torbj\u00f6rn T\u00f6rnqvist. Wearing identical gear to the rest of his crew and listening\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCrew safety: Lessons from the aviation industry<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe safety and wellbeing of both crew and vessel are the primary responsibility of any skipper. Without exception every crew\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is programmed to detect and identify all manner of marine objects from many types of ships and boats, to buoys and kayakers. It understands how they behave and can predict movement and act to navigate in and around them.\u201d
\nIn principle there\u2019s no limit to the number of objects it can track. But in the greatest traffic areas inshore, there will be a high bandwidth data link which will enable a human to step in to make decisions for the Mayflower if necessary. \u201cThere will always be a low-bandwidth satellite connection so that we may assist the vessel should it ask for help. Its prime directive is \u2018don\u2019t hit anything\u2019,\u201d added Phaneuf.
\nThe maiden voyage has been postponed until mid-April 2021, when Mayflower will attempt to become one of the first full-sized autonomous ships to cross the Atlantic. Once the technology is proven, it has myriad potential uses.
\nAutonomous technology means a single landbased captain could eventually be in command of thousands of tonnes of shipping all around the world. Photo: Rolls-Royce
\nThe race is on to develop commercial vessels with no humans aboard, only remote oversight from someone in a control room keeping an eye on dozens of vast container ships. Rolls-Royce was looking into just this before it sold its marine division to rival Kongsberg.
\nThe company believes the first steps towards using remote-controlled coastal ships will be taken in the middle of this decade, with fully autonomous vessels coming at least 10 years after that. \u201cAutonomous shipping is the future of the maritime industry,\u201d explained Mikael M\u00e4kinen, former president of Rolls-Royce\u2019s marine division. \u201cAs disruptive as the smartphone, the smart ship will revolutionise the landscape of ship design and operations.\u201d
\nThe military, too, hope to use the technology to remove vulnerable humans from tedious or dangerous frontline duties, including surveillance. The Royal Navy has earmarked \u00a3184m to develop crewless minehunters.
\nThe US Navy has already completed a trial that saw one of its Ghost Fleet Overlord vessels navigate from the Gulf Coast to California through the Panama Canal without incident.
\n\u201cDuring this voyage, the vessel travelled over 4,700 miles, 97% of which was in autonomous mode \u2013 a record for the program,\u201d reported Josh Frey, spokesman at the Department of Defense.
\nSmall scale autonomous boats
\nThere is also a growing fleet of smaller autonomous craft that can gather a wide range of data. These include the Wave Glider from Liquid Robotics, a 3.05m craft that generates power to operate from 192W of solar panels and a submarine element that harvests wave motion.
\nAs it weighs 155kg and moves at 1.3 knots, the Liquid Robotics team doesn\u2019t consider it to be a navigational hazard. \u201cThe Wave Glider is very small and therefore is the one who needs to get out of the way of any other boats,\u201d marketing director Leigh Martins told me. \u201cSo, our software uses AIS for vessel detection and avoidance to stay safe.\u201d
\nSubmarine propulsion element of the Wave Glider. Photo: Wave Glider
\nTwo craft closely resembling the Wave Glider were discovered washed up on the Scottish coast without their trailing submarine elements.
\nMeanwhile, the Sailbuoy under development by the Norwegian firm Offshore Sensing is designed to glance away from collisions.
\nIt measures 2m and weighs 60kg, and its sole means of avoiding collisions are the words \u2018Keep Clear\u2019 stencilled onto the balanced wingsail that propels it. \u201cOur solution to this is to make it withstand collisions on the open ocean,\u201d explained CEO David Peddie. \u201cA small vessel like the Sailbuoy does not present any danger to other traffic.\u201d
\nThe company\u2019s website features a video of the Sailbuoy being run down by a small freighter during testing, then righting itself thanks to its heavy keel before bobbing clear.
\nSailbuoy is designed to glance away from collisions. Photo: Sailbuoy
\nThese craft are designed to survey their environment, and can hold station like a buoy or travel slowly along a predetermined route.
\nIt has proven a robust approach: Sailbuoy became the first autonomous sailing vessel to successfully cross the Atlantic in the World Robotic Sailing Championship last year.
\nSaildrone takes a different approach for their autonomous boats. Its Explorer vehicle is larger \u2013 7m LOA, with a 2.5m draught and a displacement of 0.75 tonnes. At this scale, a more robust approach to collision avoidance is required.
\nWhile it also uses AIS to spot other vessels at sea, each Saildrone is constantly under the supervision of a human back at mission control in Alameda, California.
\nSaildrone has also scaled their design up to a hefty 72ft \u2018unmanned surface vehicle\u2019. The Surveyor is equipped with deep-sea surveying equipment capable of scanning down to around 7,000m depth, and has an air draught of 18m.
\nLike its smaller cousins, there is a human in remote control of the boat at all times, to avoid collisions. But Surveyor also bristles with cameras, images crunched by an onboard processor to identify other vessels.
\nThe company plans to put a fleet of 1,000 USVs onto the world\u2019s oceans for a range of missions, from weather monitoring and gathering oceanographic data to patrolling border waters for smuggling and illegal fishing.
\nWeather spies
\nOne of the most exciting features for sailors will be the real-time weather information autonomous boats can deliver.
\nTrimtab-controlled wingsail on Saildrone. Photo: Patrick Rousseaux Jenn Virskus\/Saildrone
\nSaildrone founder Richard Jenkins grew up sailing in the Solent, and his company supplied a super-detailed forecast for Cowes Week in 2019, based on publicly available predictions enhanced with \u2018secret\u2019 local measurements taken by a Saildrone.
\nThe result was a forecast with a high 200m resolution. In the end the uses for autonomous boats will be as myriad as those for satellites but, as with any new technology, there can be dangers, warns Luc Jaulet, robotics professor at France\u2019s ENSTA engineering school, which is developing the Vaimos autonomous vessel.
\nAs the concept becomes commonplace, the world will have to create suitable rules to keep the oceans safe. \u201cThe technology is basically ready, we just have to work out the legislation and then invest in it,\u201d says Professor Jaulet.<\/p>\n
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Sam Fortescue reports on the latest developments in autonomous boats and self-sailing technology, which is ready to be deployed in a variety of uses from weather monitoring to shipping\u2018Vessel not under command\u2019 looks set to take on a new meaning, … <\/p>\n