An Autonomous Sailboat Has Successfully Crossed the Atlantic Ocean

The first unmanned and able to sail Atlantic Ocean, completing the journey between Newfoundland, Canada, and Ireland. The 1,800 mile journey took you two and a half months. It was part of the Microtransat Challenge for robotic boats, and bolsters the possibility of being used for long-haul missions. This could include everything from ocean research to surveillance.

"This has never been done before," David Peddie, CEO of Norwegian-based Offshore Sensing AS, which built the vessel, told Digital Trends. "The Sailbuoy [robotic boat] this distance all by itself without incident. The significance of this is that it can not be used to explore the oceans for extended periods and distance. This greatly reduces the cost of exploring the oceans, and allows for a more detailed knowledge of the oceans than is possible using conventional technology.

According to Peddie, the journey was surprisingly unventful when it came to dealing with major challenges. That's a significant departure from the previous 20 unsuccessful efforts made by teams trying to complete the challenge since it started in 2010.

"We had to wait a while for the right wind conditions to deploy safely; otherwise, the crossing has been normal with not too much wind and waves, "he said. "We had to avoid some oil platforms, but this is not unusual since we have tested in the North Sea." up by passing traffic.

Sailbuoy ships cost $ 175,000 each and are powered by on-board solar panels. They send constant GPS data to reveal exactly where they are located.

Peddie told us that he is interested in doing this. "We would like to behave in hurricane conditions," he said. "But most of our efforts these days is [focused on testing] the performance of sensors mounted on it