Robot ships: Huge remote controlled vessels are setting sail - BBC News

Ocean-going vessels with no-one on board - a vision of the future that's coming faster you think.

14 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, BBC/Kevin ChurchImage caption, Large robotic vessels like this are rapidly going into service around the worldBy Jonathan Amos, Rebecca Morelle and Alison FrancisBBC Science NewsIt sounds like science fiction. Ocean-going ships with no-one on board. But this vision of the future is coming - and sooner than you might think.

You can glimpse it in a Norwegian fjord where a huge, lime-green vessel is being put through its paces. At first glance, it seems like any other ship. Look closer, though, and you suddenly see all the hi-tech kit. Cameras, microphones, radars, GPS and all manner of satellite communications.

"We've added a lot of additional equipment and designed her especially to be what we call 'robotic'," says Colin Field, the head of remote systems at US-UK company Ocean Infinity (OI).

The ship is part of OI's new "Armada" - a fleet eventually of 23 vessels - that will survey the seabed for offshore wind farm operators and check underwater infrastructure for the oil and gas industry.

Strikingly for a ship that's 78m (255ft) in length there are only 16 people on board. A traditional ship carrying out the same kind of work would need a crew of 40 or 50. OI believes it can reduce the numbers still further.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68486462

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