from https://www.pressherald.com/2022/06/05/autonomous-mayflower-reaches-american-shores-in-canada/

Autonomous Mayflower reaches American shores – in Canada
A crewless robotic boat that had tried to retrace the 1620 sea voyage of
the Mayflower, which landed in Massachusetts more than 400 years ago.

BY MATT O'BRIENASSOCIATED PRESS

Technicians lower the Mayflower Autonomous Ship into the water at its
launch site on Sept. 14, 2020, for its first outing on water since being
built in Turnchapel, Plymouth, in southwest England. The sleek
autonomous trimaran docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Sunday after more
than five weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England, according to
tech company IBM, which helped build it. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)


A crewless robotic boat that had tried to retrace the 1620 sea voyage of
the Mayflower has finally reached the shores of North America – this
time in Canada instead of the Massachusetts coast where its namesake
landed more than 400 years ago.

The sleek autonomous trimaran docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sunday,
after more than five weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England,
according to tech company IBM, which helped build it.

Piloted by artificial intelligence technology, the 50-foot Mayflower
Autonomous Ship didn’t have a captain, navigator or any humans on board
– though it might have helped to have a mechanic.

“The technology that makes up the autonomous system worked perfectly, flawlessly,” said Rob High, an IBM computing executive involved in the project. “Mechanically, we did run into problems.”

Its first attempt at the trans-Atlantic crossing to Plymouth,
Massachusetts, in June 2021 was beset by technical glitches, forcing the
boat to return to its home port of Plymouth, England.

It set off again from England nearly a year later on April 27, bound for Virginia – but a generator problem diverted it to Portugal’s Azores islands, where a team member flew in to perform emergency repairs. More troubles on the open sea came in late May when the U.S.-bound boat
developed a problem with the charging circuit for the generator’s
starter batteries.

AI software is getting better at helping self-driving machines
understand their surroundings and pilot themselves, but most robots
can’t heal themselves when the hardware goes awry.

Nonprofit marine research organization ProMare, which worked with IBM to
build the ship, switched to a back-up navigation computer on May 30 and
charted a course to Halifax – which was closer than any U.S.
destination. The boat’s webcam on Sunday morning showed it being towed
by a larger boat as the Halifax skyline neared – a safety requirement
under international maritime rules, IBM said.



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