In 1620, the Mayflower set sail from England, carrying some 130 Puritans across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World.
In 2020, a new Mayflower will follow the same path between the UK and US—but this time without any passengers.
Marking the fourth centenary of an American-history icon, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) is scheduled to begin its 12-day journey next September.
This isn’t a pleasure cruise, though: Powered by renewable energy technology, the boat will carry three research pods, allowing scientists to remotely study ocean conditions, marine pollution and conservation, and autonomous navigation.
Visualisation of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship cruising at sea, completely unmanned (via University of Birmingham Human Interface Technologies Team)
“Putting a research ship to sea can cost tens of thousands of dollars … a day and is limited by how much time people can spend onboard—a prohibitive factor for many of today’s marine scientific missions,” MAS co-founder Brett Phaneuf said in a statement.
“With this project,” he continued, “we are pioneering a cost-effective and flexible platform for gathering data that will help safeguard the health of the ocean and the industries it supports.”
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship was conceived in 2014 as a modern embodiment of the Pilgrims’ pioneering spirit.
It also draws upon 400 years of maritime history to inform the next 400 years of exploration, according to non-profit ProMare, which is at the helm of MAS.
Visualisation of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship with a wingsail and solar panels propelling the ship (via University of Birmingham Human Interface Technologies Team)
Research pods are coordinated by Plymouth University, while the vessel is being designed by Whiskerstay and M Subs and constructed in part at Aluship Technology in Poland.
New to the global consortium, IBM is lending its artificial intelligence, server, cloud, and edge computing technologies to autonomously navigate and avoid ocean hazards.
“IBM helped put a man on the Moon and is excited by the challenge of using advanced technologies to cross and research our deepest oceans,” according to chief technology officer Andy Stanford-Clark. “By providing the brains for the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, we are pushing the boundaries of science and autonomous technologies to address critical environmental issues.”
More on Geek.com:
- Help NASA Develop Autonomous Rovers
- Domino’s Brings Autonomous Pizza Delivery to Houston
- World’s First All-Weather Autonomous Bus Rolls Out in Finland
from Geek.com https://ift.tt/2BlblE0
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment