MIT News June 5, 2019
An international team of researchers (USA – MIT, the Netherlands) is working on Roboat to build a fleet of autonomous robotic boats devised to transport people and goods similar to self-driving cars. The design dynamically links and joins multiple boats into one unit in order to form floating infrastructure such as bridges, markets or concert stages, as well as autonomously self-detach to perform individual tasks. They developed a novel latching system that enables robotic boats to create dynamic united floating infrastructure while overcoming water disturbances. The roboats run on custom computer vision and control techniques and capable of recomputing and repositioning to latch successfully. Each roboat has a LIDAR system and camera, so they can autonomously move from point to point around the canals…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
The roboats are being designed to transport people, collect trash, and self-assemble into floating structures in the canals of Amsterdam. Courtesy of the researchers