MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS VOYAGE - MAS's direction of travel is the reverse of the Scout and Voyager autonomous Atlantic attempts that took advantage of trade winds. The Mayflower will be heading into prevailing winds and currents. If sail powered, she would need to tack. But powered by a diesel engine, with support from the deck mounted solar panels, there may be no need for that - except, that we saw her struggling when out at sea. Energy from nature is used to power the onboard AI and satellite communications. Many media reports inaccurately refer to wind power as a feature of the MAS, but you can plainly see that there is no wind turbine or wing-sail on this craft. Lidar, Cameras and Radar are commonly used to navigate reaper drones, robotaxis and driver-less trucks. There is no reason why such a system should not perform well on the high seas.

FUDZILLA 21 JUNE 2021 AI POWERED MAYFLOWER DECIDES TO GIVE AMERICA A MISS

Humans were less picky.

An AI-powered version of the Mayflower, which was hoping to retrace the historic 1620 invasion of America’s by right-wing fundamentalist Christians has made some significant course changes.

This robotic 21st-century research ship, much like the human captain of the Mayflower, had a look at the course, weighed its chances, thought about what would happen once it arrived, and decided to reverse course back to Europe.

Nonprofit marine research organization ProMare, which worked with IBM to build the autonomous ship, said it made the decision to return to base "to investigate and fix a minor mechanical issue" but hopes to be back on the trans-Atlantic journey as soon as possible.

Like the real Mayflower, there was no one on board who could make repairs while it was at sea. The real Mayflower was packed with people who hoped to pray their way to the US. Most of Europe was happy to let them try.

Piloted by artificial intelligence technology, the 50-foot (15-meter) Mayflower Autonomous Ship began its trip early Tuesday, departing from Plymouth, England, and spending some time off the Isles of Scilly before it headed for deeper waters.

It was supposed to take up to three weeks to reach Provincetown on Cape Cod before making its way to Plymouth, Massachusetts. If successful, it would be the largest autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic.

Unlike the real Mayflower, the AI will not go on to genocide the existing inhabitants in the name of its dark robotic gods of hate. Although it may do, history has a habit of repeating itself.

TRANSATLANTIC EVENT CALENDAR 2021

The IBM Mayflower MAS 400 is an autonomous trimaran powered by a diesel engine, piloted by a solar powered artificially intelligent computer system developed by IBM called 'AI Captain.'

A BIT OF HISTORY

The first solar boat to travel around the world was the PlanetSolar, coming home on the 4th of May 2012. Computing power was not as advanced as it is today, when PlanetSolar set off on 27th September 2010, following the Sunshine Route, first shown in London at the 1994/95 Boat Show. Then in January 2013 a patent specification for a COLREGs compliant, unmanned autonomous navigation system was filed by a BMS engineer ( now our IP) with the suggestion in 'Claims' for using a solar powered trimaran (patent granted 12 June 2019) as a suitable hull configuration. This patent also included wind energy harvesting as originally advertised for the Mayflower 400.

JOURNEY TIME

The original wooden 30-meter Mayflower took 66 days to carry the Pilgrims, Founding Fathers from the U.K. to what is now the U.S. The voyage would have involved a lot of tacking, because sailing ships cannot sail directly into the wind. But the new sail-less aluminium boat should take two to three weeks (14-21 days) depending on how strong the prevailing trade winds are, and assuming no technical glitches or marine accidents - the whole point of the COLREGs compliant navigation system.

LINKS, CONTACTS & REFERENCE

https://www.fudzilla.com/news/automotive/53082-ai-powered-mayflower-decides-to-give-america-a-miss