September 12, 2017 – Sea Machines Robotics today announced the release of the company’s first product, an Autonomous Control System for commercial marine vessels, the SM300.

The SM300 is the world’s first industrial-grade control system that is standardized for work boats. The technology provides an immediate upgrade in vessel operations by enabling remote and autonomous control of conventional boats. The Sea Machines system moves the marine sector into a new era of control by enabling:

Direct Remote Command, which is remote joystick control of a boat with a 1-kilometer range. Giving an operator the flexibility of not being confined to a vessel during operations; boosting productivity and safety of many traditional marine tasks.

Autonomous Command, is Sea Machines computer control which pilots a boat in preplanned or routine long duration missions with real-time self-awareness to keep the vessel on plan, on course, away from obstacles, while giving increased capability, predictability, amplified safety, and operator peace of mind.

Sea Machines is going to market by offering the SM300 system to offshore and near shore vessel operators, boat builders and a network of retrofit partners.

“The Sea Machines 300 opens a new world of on-water operations providing multi-fold increases in workboat safety, efficiency, and productivity. Sea Machines technology gives companies the ability to get ahead of the marine technology curve”, said Sea Machines CEO Michael G. Johnson. “We are making autonomous & remote command a standardized product that soon will be as commonly deployed as radar or chart plotter systems.”

The SM300 is built on marine industrial Siemens components and computers. It interfaces with vessel instruments and systems and is ready to integrate with an array of propulsion configurations. The system takes data from typical navigation sensors for real-time awareness and perception, including DGPS, AIS, and radar. All autonomy system components are mounted in a marine IP67-rated electrical enclosure.

The system is supplied with a user interface, called Sea Machines TALOS, which provides computer controlled autonomy options, or direct joystick control. TALOS can also control multiple vessels from a single station. In autonomy mode, the user can select from programmable commands such as: planned waypoint tracking/grids, collaborative navigation with other vessels, all while incorporating multi- objective decision making. The SM300 features embedded collision avoidance algorithms and abides by parts of IMO’s Rules of the Road navigation rules.