Autonomous Sailboat

 You must have heard of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), also called drones. But did you know that there are drone boats too? In fact, these autonomous sailing boats even have a world championship devoted exclusive to racing on the high seas. This year’s Microtransat Challenge — a transatlantic race — is planned to start between August 31st and September 30th 2011.

 These tiny ships have microprocessors to help with navigation but are propelled by the wind. The race takes between 40 and 60 days to complete. The boat, or call it a Ro-boat if you will, which crosses the Atlantic and reaches the finish line in the shortest time is the winner. To do this it has to battle a host of hostile conditions. These include facing storms, winds of over 50 knots, tropical storms and even hurricanes common in latitudes close to Ecuador.

The microprocessor has to decide the course of the boat based on wind speed, weather conditions, etc…all without any human intervention. Before leaving, each team must
choose a field of 50 kilometers in diameter along the fixed line.

Man sure has come a long time from rickety rafts and boats with oars which could barely cross rivers, leave aside oceans. Wonder what Columbus would have thought of tiny robotic boats making the same journey that he did in a fraction of his time and most importantly with much greater accuracy.

These tiny sail boats require a lot of time and research and very few actually manage to complete the journey. Last year, only the team from Aberystwyth University were able to launch during this time.

In order to avoid collision at sea, the boats are equipped with an AIS class B transponder. Additionally, for it’s remote tracking they have a satellite transponder. Tech that, Columbus.