In its April Autonomy on Trial article, Marine Link reports: “When discussing the arrival of autonomous workboats, many – especially those developing the technologies that enable them – say it’s is not a matter of if, but when … Marine autonomy comes in many shapes and sizes, and autonomous does not necessarily mean unmanned. Autonomy can exist in different stages and degrees, from smart and automated to fully independent. In each case, crew will maintain their vital role on board, but they’ll be supported by technologies that aim to help them do their jobs in a safer and more efficient manner.”

Editor Eric Haun continues:  “Humans will remain in the picture for the foreseeable future, and technology will allow them to shift into roles that are more supervisory, tapping computer vision, sensor fusion and data collection to leverage expanded situational awareness and advanced pilot capabilities.” 

Don’t miss this story, which explores the future of the marine industry with autonomy at the helm. In it, Marine Link features Sea Machines as a leading developer of such systems and includes a portion of an interview with the company’s Don Black, vice president of sales and marketing.

“Autonomy is not about taking people out of the loop. It’s about making them more effective and reducing risk … At the end of the day, human senses have limitations. That’s the reason we have a lot of devices like radar, sonar, all the rest of it, on the boat in the first place. When we look at what we do, we’re bringing all that together and consolidating it and making it far more consumable via human. When you look at it from that perspective, there’s no workboat or any type of vessel that can’t take advantage of that.” – Don Black, Sea Machines

Read the full story here.