Global Project to Retrace Mayflower Voyage With AI Powered Robot Ship with Mission to Collect Vital Data about Health of the Ocean
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy League of the United States — a nonprofit civilian, educational and advocacy organization that supports America’s sea services: the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and U.S.-flag Merchant Marine — announced today that it is creating a multipart documentary highlighting the Mayflower Autonomous Ship Project, which includes IBM Cloud, AI and Edge Computing technology.
The series, which will debut September 16, details the pioneering project led by marine research organization ProMare and unmanned submersible experts MSubs with IBM as the lead technology partner. The goal is to build and sail a Mayflower for the 21st century, capable of traversing oceans autonomously and collecting data that will help protect the future of the world’s most important resource.
“This project heralds the decade of autonomous ships, melding past, present, future, daring and innovation to produce a crewless ship that will be a major boost to oceanographic research and the exploration of AI and machine learning in autonomous operations,” said Ray Spicer, vice-president, defense and intelligence, IBM U.S. Federal. “MSubs and IBM engineers have collaborated to create a new class of marine AI, greatly reducing costs and keeping humans safer and more productive, while pushing the boundaries of autonomous ship development and transforming the future of marine research.”
The series will focus on the technology that goes into recreating a fully autonomous transatlantic voyage, including delving into the mission data, which will look at the overall health of the ocean, a mission that if it were replicated with manned ships would cost tens of thousands of dollars per day.
“As the sea services increasingly rely on autonomous platforms to expand their mission capabilities, the Navy League is looking to educate the American public on the critical data and cost savings operating autonomous ships enables,” says Navy League Executive Director Mike Stevens, retired 13th Master Chief Petty Office of the Navy. “We are thrilled to be able to partner with IBM, MSubs and ProMare to bring this important aspect of the future of naval missions to light.”
Unlike many robotic vessels that have been brought to market in the naval defense and oceanography spaces, the AI Mayflower leverages machine learning, edge computing and cloud technologies to make intelligent decisions without human intervention, but with human oversight, enabling it to dynamically adapt to new situations, much like a human crew would.
The ship is currently slated to take to the water for the first time in September 2020 ahead of a transatlantic voyage from Plymouth, United Kingdom, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in spring 2021.
For more information on how to watch, go to https://ibm.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1344274&tp_key=c82c931a55.
Media Contact
Danielle Lucey
Senior Vice President of Communications
dlucey@navyleague.org
(703) 312-1580
About the Navy League of the United States
The Navy League of the United States, founded in 1902 with the support of President Theodore Roosevelt, is a nonprofit civilian, educational and advocacy organization that supports America’s sea services: the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and U.S.-flag Merchant Marine. Through national and local programs, the Navy League of the United States provides a powerful voice to educate the public and Congress on the importance of our sea services to our nation’s defense, well-being and economic prosperity. The Navy League provides support to our sea services personnel and their families and youth programs, such as the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Junior ROTC and Young Marines, that expose young people to the values of our sea services. For more information, go to www.navyleague.org.
To learn more about the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, visit: https://newsroom.ibm.com/then-and-now