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Feature: Canadian students design robotic sailboat for Atlantic challenge

Xinhua, January 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean by an unmanned sailing boat? Yes, this is a dream of a group of students from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver in west Canada. They've designed a robotic sailboat that will become the first unmanned vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

They plan to launch the so-called "Sailbot" off the coast of Newfoundland in the far east of Canada this summer from where it will sail the North Atlantic for roughly two weeks before hopefully completing a 2,500-kilometer race in Ireland.

Since 2010, a group of 66 UBC students have been competing and winning at other robotic sailboat regattas with smaller versions of this automated vessel.

Josh Andrews, a UBC Sailbot team member, told Xinhua that for that purpose, they had contacted the Microtransat Challenge, which is a transatlantic race of fully autonomous sailing boats.

The wind-powered boat controls itself with satellite navigation and infrared imaging. As it sails, it will send route information back to a website so the team and people around the world can monitor its progress through the icebergs and rough shipping channels of the North Atlantic.

"It's all done with computers on board. There are basically two types of systems that we use. One is a navigational system which determines the route to go across the Atlantic Ocean, and the other is a sailing system that knows how to get from point A to point B. So when the two systems work together, it will get all the way across," Andrews said.

Andrews said the main challenge would be the harsh Atlantic weather that could batter the ship or swallow it entirely. Running into other vessels could also be a problem.

The ship, when completed in the next few months, will be able to use its thermal imaging equipment to recognize obstacles and navigate around them. Andrews said the computer system can also make the boat brace itself for impacts.

"I think a lot of the work that we've done has actually already been proven on a smaller scale, so we're taking that technology and expanding it and making it work on a bigger scale which is the Atlantic Ocean," he added.

To help ensure success, the boat will be equipped with two identical navigation systems should one fail while at sea. The entire project will cost about 60,000 CAN (49,000 U.S. dollars) and they still needs 20,000 (16,200 U.S. dollars) to fulfill their target. Endite