PHOTO | "Roboat": A robot - a boat through the canals of Amsterdam
The use of a prototype futuristic boat robot is planned on the 100 km long canal in Amsterdam.
These fully autonomous vessels would perform a variety of tasks, including passenger transport and garbage transport.
Experts from the Amsterdam Institute and scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working on the Roboat project.
Robotic boats sail slowly, at speeds of up to six kilometers per hour, using a propeller and four electric battery-powered motors with the capacity to operate, depending on the task, from 12 hours to 24 hours. They are remotely controlled using a computer based on data from cameras and sensors that scan areas around the boat.
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The boats are "modular" and can be easily adapted to carry cargo or people.
The team working on the project says it will take another two to four years to perfect the technology for autonomous management of those vessels.
Stephen van Dijk, director of innovation at the Amsterdam Institute, said the new technology was "very relevant in extremely complex port operations, where there are many ships and other vessels, many quays and ports." "Security can really be improved there with autonomous systems, but also make the job more efficient."
At a recent demonstration, a four-meter-long electric robot boat maneuvered alongside a replica of an 18th-century merchant ship called the Amsterdam, a symbolic display of the city's maritime past and future.
The robot ship learns to maneuver through all the traffic in the canals of Amsterdam, which are full of private boats and boats cruising tourists.
The project has a legal aspect and is working on preparing the changes necessary to enable autonomous use of the robot - boats, without captains and helmsmen.
The data collected by the cameras of that vessel will not identify the people in the area and in that sense the privacy of the citizens will be guaranteed.