As early as 2016, we heard that Amsterdam considered deploying autonomous ships to fully improve the efficiency of personnel and cargo transportation in the rich local waterways. Since then, these so-called roboats have been redesigned many times. What this article wants to introduce to you is a full-size automatic navigation ship built by MIT and ready for operation.

(from MIT News)

At first, this kind of ROBOAT was conceived as a convenient public infrastructure solution, and early versions also considered it for extending the coastline and even floating platforms of floating bridges. Then the ships become more intelligent and agile, and can dock together to form different arrangements in 2019.

Last year, ROBOAT developers from MIT's computer science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Amsterdam's advanced urban solutions Institute (AMS Institute) demonstrated a half scale version with a length of 2 meters (6.5 feet).

Thanks to advanced navigation technology, it was fully demonstrated during the 3-hour round trip along the canal without any accidents.

The MIT team deployed the first full-size autopilot in the Amsterdam canal

Now, the MIT team has taken out the 4-meter (13 foot) ROBOAT III, which is characterized by its ability to carry five passengers. The navigation system is based on last year and includes lidar, GPS positioning and a set of cameras for 360 ° panoramic recognition.

In order to smoothly guide the ROBOAT III to move from point a to point B, the sensor will collect the data of obstacles and potential collisions, and then the control algorithm can send obstacle avoidance instructions to the propeller. Daniela Rus, Professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and director of CSAIL, said:

"We have now achieved higher accuracy and robustness in perception, navigation and control systems, and introduced some new functions, such as locked approach mode and improved dynamic positioning, so that ships can navigate autonomously in real waters.".

It is reported that ROBOAT III has a highly adaptable hull and can replace the top deck as needed. Even better, ROBOAT's control system can also adapt to changes in the number of passengers on board, such as replacing five seats with cargo warehouses or changing to the deck of floating platforms.

Fabio Duarte, chief research scientist and project leader of DUSP, said that since ROBOAT can perform tasks 24 / 7 and does not need the captain to be stationed on the ship, it can produce great value to urban transportation.

The latest news is that MIT team has deployed two full-size ROBOAT in Amsterdam and is now focusing on public experiments of relevant technologies.