"Mayflower 400" - World's First Artificial Intelligence Powered Unmanned Ship

Mayflower 400 has created history by becoming the world’s first unmanned vessel that completely runs on Artificial Intelligence. Researchers from a non-profit marine research organization ProMare with IBM as a technology partner built this first of its kind ship. The ship is laced with solar panels, advanced cameras, and radars for smooth functioning. This fully autonomous ship will sail across the Atlantic Ocean and will study the marine pollution – mainly due to plastic, and explore the flora and fauna of the underwater world. In this article, we will discuss some of the prominent features of the Mayflower 400 to reflect its importance.

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400th Anniversary of the Mayflower

The first voyage of the original Mayflower ship took place from Plymouth (England) to America in 1620. To make the 400th Anniversary of the Mayflower journey recognizable, Brett Phaneuf who is the co-founder of ProMare suggested making the world’s first Artificial Intelligence-powered ship known as Mayflower 400. Phaneuf, who put forth the idea of this 21st-century vessel, is himself a submarine builder and has expertise in robotics and underwater systems. The special name Mayflower Autonomous Ship given to this ship reflects the legacy and spirit of 1620 Mayflower.

Mayflower 400 Instruments Onboard

Mayflower 400 is a ship without a human captain/crew. It has 30 onboard sensors, 6 AI-powered cameras, and 15 edge devices. Controlled by the world’s first AI captain this ship uses Machine Learning based algorithms in its decision-making. This 15-meter long vessel is designed as a trimaran and it weighs 9 tons. Let us now understand some of the technologies incorporated in it.

To detect the hurdles in its way the Mayflower Autonomous Ship houses a RADAR that works perfectly within the forward range of 2.5 nautical miles.
Cameras onboard capture and transmit the visual signals to IBM’s computer vision system. These cameras can identify other vessels and ships even if they are partially submerged.
With the help of the Automatic Identification System, the information about other vessels such as weight, speed, cargo, and the class of ship can be identified.
The location of the ship can be detected with GPS Navigation System. It also helps in evaluating the ship’s heading, speed, and course.
The nautical chart server decides the route to be followed by Mayflower 400.
The Weather Company provides the weather data input.
Attitude sensors give information about sea waves.
Water depth is measured using Fathometer.
Power usage, communication systems, and payloads are managed using the Vehicle Management System.
IBM’s Operational Decision Manager based on Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 helps in eliminating any collision with other vessels.
AI Captain in sync with the Vehicle Management system commands and controls the ship.

artie chatbot mayflower autonomous ship — Artie Chatbot at Mayflower Autonomous Ship, Image Credit: IBM newsroom

A seven-armed octopus chatbot Artie dubbed as the world’s first AI octopus is hitching a ride on Mayflower 400. You can chat with him at MAS400.com

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Mayflower 400 to Make Oceanic Data Accessible to All

If all the ocean combined considered a nation then it becomes the 7th largest economy in the world. There are multiple benefits of the ocean apart from its economic value. The ocean produces oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide, they also help mitigate environmental and climate change. The increase in sea level, ocean pollution, acidity, the temperature have worsened the situation. To reverse all these effects, the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 to be the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Mayflower 400 Autonomous Ship is purposed to collect oceanic data to assist in research. Some of the goals are listed below –

To understand the whale population and study their health standards.
To quantify the number of micro-plastics to assist in cleaning the oceans.
To understand the temperature, salinity, and depth of the ocean which are the 3 characteristic parameters for oceanographic research.
To study phytoplankton which is a kind of microscopic marine algae that plays an essential role in the marine food chain.
Ocean acidification is a result of access CO2 absorption. By measuring the pH of different regions of the ocean efforts can be made to reduce the ocean acidity.
To analyze the pattern in ocean wave energy so as to protect the coastal infrastructures.
To understand the spatial variation in sea level in order to predict tides and wave field.

All these studies will be conducted with the help of the technological instruments onboard and the data will be made available to all for further research.

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Need of Human Intervention

The launch of Mayflower 400, a fully autonomous unmanned ship, was scheduled for 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19. The next launch is slated for May 15, 2021, if the weather conditions are favorable for the voyage. However, this unmanned ship has not been tested under rough or stormy weather conditions due to a lack of regulations. In case of any danger to the ship during its voyage, human intervention is needed that can easily be done by the dedicated team which is monitoring the ship 24 hours from England.

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