A £1million robot ship is being assembled at a submarine factory in Plymouth ready for a trailblazing voyage across the Atlantic.
The is being worked on at M Subs Ltd factories after its hull and outriggers arrived in from a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.
The modular vessel was constructed and dispatched before the coronavirus crisis struck and has been safely brought to the 海角视频 in segments, arriving only just after lockdown was enforced.
It is being worked on by specialist engineers who are able to operate socially distant from each other and safely.
Meanwhile, the engine has been built and its IT systems are also being developed by specialists who are able to work from home during the pandemic.
It means the MAS team is hopeful the unmanned boat can be “snapped together” and ready for sea trials in Plymouth Sound once the Covid-19 lockdown is lifted.
They are still hopeful of being able to hit their target date of September 16 and set off on its pioneering crossing from Plymouth, 海角视频, to Plymouth USA, 400 years after the original Mayflower sailed to the same ocean. It will be completely unmanned but monitored from a control room in Plymouth.
The vessel’s hull and outriggers, the two floats that complete the catamaran, are in Plymouth and being worked on at separate factories.
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M Subs Ltd, which is carrying out vital defence work, is able to operate during the pandemic, but has allowed all design and admin staff to work from home, so only engineers are in the factories, each able to work at distance from each other with safety precautions in place.
It has not had to furlough any of its 70 staff or make any redundant, during the Covid-19 crisis, and Brett Phaneuf, managing director of M Subs, said it was because the firm was debt free and added: “We can carry people for a long period of time, that’s because when the crisis hit we were in good shape.”
Mr Phaneuf said “100% of the (MAS) boat is here” in Plymouth and added; “It’s modular, so will snap together. Everything is ready to go to sea trials with the software. As soon as they release us (from lockdown) we can go into the water and go for it.
He said the big question is whether lockdown will end soon enough to give the MAS team enough time to do all the tests they want to hit the September deadline.
But if it does then it’s all systems go and Mr Phaneuf said: “We will go across at some point and are still shooting for September 16. But it depends how long this lasts, though we are still in with a good shot.
“But the ship will sail around Plymouth this summer.”
MAS is being coordinated through a partnership headed by the ProMare Foundation, a non-profit corporation and public charity established to promote marine research and exploration throughout the world.
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The 15m hull, made from 5mm thick aluminium, was crafted in the Polish port of Gdansk, no British shipyard was able to take on the project, with its mechanical systems made in the 海角视频.
It is being assembled at M Subs, where the firm’s daughter company Marine AI has created the computer technology in partnership with global tech giant IBM.
That includes using a Power 9 AC 922 server, which Mr Phaneuf calls “probably the most powerful computer in Plymouth”.
The unit, about the same size as an old-style VCR box, will link with the cameras and sensors on the vessel, effectively teaching them how to identify other boats and other objects and navigate around them without a human involved.
Mr Phaneuf said there will effectively be “a dozen little computers with cameras” on the ship “each sending data to the central processing area”.
“The ship can work with no connection at all with humans,” he said.
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However, it will be monitored from Plymouth and the USA, but the idea is for the computers to do the work of driving and steering the MAS so humans can busy themselves with dealing with the mass of data the ship will send back about the ocean and environment.
That’s because MAS will be powered by state-of-the-art renewable energy technology and carry a research pod, containing sensors and other equipment which scientists hope will pave the way for ground-breaking research into ocean conditions, marine pollution and conservation, and autonomous navigation. The research pod will be coordinated by the University of Plymouth.
Mr Phaneuf said the project could not have been carried out without the help of IBM, a firm he called “agile and nimble and prizing creativity”.
“They’ve been a tremendous partner,” he said. “It’s fascinating to work with them.”