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First unmanned vessel to set sail - 28th May 2021

This sleek vessel heralds the dawn of a new maritime era. Mayflower 400 is an autonomous craft born from the ingenuity and vision of globally renowned experts from the disciplines of science, environmentalism, engineering and sailing.

Honouring its trailblazing namesake, this revolutionary vessel will be the first crewless craft to make the turbulent Atlantic crossing. Although its much anticipated launch to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s iconic voyage was scuppered by the pandemic, the self-piloting vessel has finally been readied for its own pioneering quest.

Engineering student Meirwen Jenking-Rees has been labouring hard to ensure everything is shipshape.

Meirwen Jenking-Rees: "It’s possible. It’s just a bit of a struggle that we’re still in the, in the trials area. So we haven’t been able to go out in full choppy ocean waves, wind, rain. The full sort of worst case scenario stuff hasn’t been achieved yet."

While the team monitors its state of the art instruments remotely, ready to assume command should an emergency arise, the onboard artificial intelligence should be up to the job. Programmed using myriad images and maritime collision protocols, this ‘AI Captain’ is expected to weather any storm by itself. Robotics specialist Oliver Thompson crafted the vessel’s computers.

Oliver Thompson: "We don’t have to show her every single boat she’ll ever see for her to know that that particular boat is a boat. There are common features, and that applies to the decisions she makes as well."

Generating energy via its own photovoltaic system, Mayflower 400 powers some ground-breaking research technology gathering data about the briny deep. Space usually required by a crew is given over to critical research to monitor sea levels and the ocean’s chemical composition, as well as mapping the paths taken by pods of whales from recording their calls.

Compared against other research vessels, the efficient data gathering undertaken by autonomous ships could change the landscape of marine research. Project director Brett Phaneuf affirms these ecological objectives are of paramount importance.

Brett Phaneuf: "And then if we can do that – remaining safe in terms of other people on the ocean, other ships on the ocean and also dealing with whatever the ocean can throw at us from a weather perspective – the AI systems can do that. That’s a huge move forward into reducing the cost of going to sea to collect the data that we need to understand the planet better. And that’s really the ultimate goal."

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