Sea Machines to demonstrate autonomous oil spill response technology

Sea Machines Robotics has entered into a cooperative agreement with the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) to demonstrate the use of autonomous technology in marine oil-spill response operations.

For the demonstration, an autonomous command system will be installed on a response skimming vessel owned and operated by Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC).

The demonstration will be carried out as part of simulated oil spill recovery exercises in the harbour of Portland, Maine, on August 21.

Sea Machines claims the autonomous command system will give the MSRC response vessel capabilities including but not limited to remote autonomous control from an onshore location or secondary vessel, autonomous waypoint tracking, wireless remote payload control to deploy an onboard boom and other response equipment, and obstacle detection and collision avoidance.

The system will allow both minimally manned and unmanned autonomous operations to reduce or eliminate exposure of crewmembers to toxic fumes and other safety hazards.