Nautical Drones Attract Serious Attention

From NauticExpo e-magazine: Rolls-Royce may have captured the headlines with its vision of autonomous vessels, but small autonomous craft known as nautical drones are attracting serious attention—and serious investments.

Unsurprisingly, the military was an early adopter of the drone concept. One example is the Oscar-class stealth drone, designed by American military robotics experts 5G International and built by United Arab Emirates-based Al Seer Marine. The companies have created five generations of such drones, for everything from harbor security to anti-piracy and other missions.

The drawback is limited sea time—about ten days—before refueling. That led French sailor and journalist Christophe Guigueno to found the Dronautic organization. His definition of a Dronautic is a craft “navigating at the surface of the oceans, seas or fresh waters, without any crew onboard, in complete energy autonomy.” It can use any energy source except fossil fuels or nuclear power.

Guigueno also scheduled an around-the-world nautical drone race for June 2018. But he told NauticExpo e-magazine that “Sadly, the race is not going ahead. It was too difficult to find a budget and create a team. Nobody has ever been able to cross the Atlantic [with a drone]. In the Pacific, only Saildrone has been able to cross a part, from San Francisco to Hawaii. There is still much to do for a team to make a long-distance ocean crossing,” he added.

FIND THE FULL NAUTICAL DRONE STORY HERE.