Autonomus

 

Autonomus is a modified 4 meter competition sailboat, which sails to desired GPS-positions autonomously. Progress during the last two years has made the  sailboat capable of sailing autonomusly across the Oslo fjord  and perform limited path planning tasks. Development is now under way to include better awareness of other vessels based on AIS  and LiDAR sensor data fusion. The combination with more intelligent path planning and routing algorithms will make the sailboat able to adjust to traffic situations and avoid collissions.

Sailing for the new testarena for autonomous vessels

The test arena was opened the 16th of October and Autonomus was off course one of the vessels that showed autonomous operations. See the video below.

Getting ready for WRSC2017

 See the YouTube video from the sea-tests here:

Crossing the Oslo fjord

Autonomus sucessfully crossed the Oslo fjord by itself  in 5 hours with an average
speed of 2.5 knots. Wind speeds between 3-11m/s. See the YouTube video here:

World Robotic sailing chapionship

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Engineering challenge

Unmanned zero energy sailing is a topic of interest both for academic institutions and private companies. The complexity of maneuvering autonomously across an ocean in changing weather conditions makes the task challenging. Now, the sailboat has proven it's ability to sail to specific waypoints, but there are more challenges that needs to be solved to successfully sail longer distances in more demanding weather conditions. 

Industrial partners

For our industry partners Autonomus will offer a cost-effective way to enter a market that has yet to be explored. The Autonomus-platform has a potential as an environmentally-friendly and silent transporter that can move around the world oceans without needing energy. There are many possible future applications for this concept from transportation to surveillance and beyond.