Inside Sea Machines' thousand-mile autonomous odyssey
Boston-based maritime tech company Sea Machine Robotics is set to break new ground for autonomous shipping by setting out on a 1,000 nautical mile remotely controlled journey around Denmark later this year.
The vessel, a tugboat named The Machine Odyssey, is set to test the waters for the viability of autonomous ships on long-range journeys when it departs from Hamburg on September 30.
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The voyage is expected to last several weeks. The ship's systems will be managed by autonomous technology, while its route will be closely monitored by operators based in the US.
The vessel will reportedly allow for its onshore human operators to control it using live augmented overlays that display its mission, the state of the vessel, situational awareness analytics and environmental data.
The goal of the journey is to provide clearance for the transport of passengers for both commercial and recreational purposes.
According to one 2018 study, human error, such as judgement issues, inadequate training, or fatigue accounts for between 75% and 96% of all maritime accidents. In 2017 alone, there were 2,172 shipping incidents, costing around $1.6 billion.
One alleged advantage of autonomous shipping is how every aspect of the vessel journey is operated through algorithms and machine learning, which could effectively remove the potential for human error as a risk, as well as any associated costs.
However, concerns have also been raised over this level of autonomy leaving humans out of work, the lack of an onboard crew could make maintenance or moving large parts far more difficult.
There is also the issue of significant upfront costs to invest in autonomous technologies for shipping companies not already invested in the tech sector, particularly in the earlier stages of shipping autonomy.
At the helm will be the "Sea Machines SM300", a so-called "sensor-to-propeller" autonomy system that allows for path planning in advance as well as providing updates for obstacle avoidance, vectored nautical charts and advanced coordination systems live to the onshore operators.
The company claims the crew will be in complete control of the vessel from start to finish.
With 90% of global trade being transported by sea - some 11 billion tonnes each year - the sector faces a volatile environment that can provide dangerous conditions for human crews - far more than those experienced during road or air travel.
The firm added the advent of autonomous shipping will allow for optimisations between employee safety, productivity and systems efficiency.
“Just as other land-based industries shift repetitive manual drudgery from human to predictable robotic systems, our autonomous technology elevates humans from controller to commander with most of the direct continuous control effort being managed by technology," Sea Machines' CEO Michael Johnson said.
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"This recast human-technology relationship is the basis of a new era of at-sea operations and will give on-water industries the tools and capability to be much more competitive, end the erosion of high-value cargo to air and road, put more vessels on water, operate in better harmony with the natural ocean environment, and deliver new products and services," he added.
The 72-day journey will be available to watch via live stream, which will provide 24/7 updates from the sea.
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