New Robot ‘Mayflower' Ship Begins Voyage Recreating Original Route

A fully autonomous ship named for the Mayflower, the ship that sailed to what is now the eastern U.S. state of Massachusetts, left Plymouth Harbor in southwestern Britain Tuesday to retrace the original’s 5,000-kilometer voyage.

If successful, the 15-meter Mayflower 400 would be the largest autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic. The $1.3 million ship was built by a nonprofit marine research organization named ProMare in partnership with the computer-tech giant IBM. It is powered by a combination of wind and solar energy, with a back-up diesel generator. ProMare co-founder and project director Brett Phaneuf said the ship is designed to test a variety of different technologies, as well as research the ocean. Computing and artificial intelligence systems supplied by IBM — and more commonly used by financial services firms — help it make decisions at sea without human help.   A range of equipment including cameras and radar allow the craft to sense the world around it and detect hazards. The vessel is also loaded with instruments to measure ocean health, including a "tongue" to taste seawater chemicals, and an acoustic payload to listen for whales and dolphins.