USVs

Norway's Argeo has launched the first uncrewed survey and inspection vessel based on the Mariner X platform from Maritime Robotics. The Argus is expected to undertake mapping and inspection operations for offshore wind projects.

BAE Systems has won a US$4 million contract to supply the British Royal Navy with autonomous Pacific 24 (P24) boats. The P24 Unmanned is a 25.6 ft-long Rigid Inflatable Boat that can reach 38 knots and operate for 45 hours at patrol speed.

The US Navy is not only developing robotic warships, but it also wants to teach them how to speak. In a request for proposals, the Navy has outlined how it wants its USVs to be able to have verbal radio communications with the crew of other ships.

BAE Systems will demonstrate an unmanned surface vessel fully integrating with the combat systems of a Royal Navy warship for the first time.

A new type of underwater robot has completed sea trials in California. Developed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and others, the Mesobot is a semi-autonomous robotic submersible designed to study the marine twilight zone of the mesopelagic region.

After trying and failing last year, Offshore Sensing has now succeeded in sailing an unmanned vessel across the Atlantic. The Sailbuoy Met was deployed from Newfoundland on June 7, 2018 and reached the coast of Ireland on August 26, a distance of 3,000 km.

Swarms of insects and schools of fish have inspired engineers to create groups of robots that move as one entity, and now Aquabotix has unleashed SwarmDiver, a series of small synchronized swimmers loaded with sensors for defense, research or monitoring applications.

Many of the autonomous watercraft we've seen so far follow traditional designs. The AutoNaut is a little different, packing solar-powered sensors for monitoring marine wildlife and ocean conditions and getting to where it needs to be using energy harvested from the waves it rides on.​​

We’re increasingly seeing drones that cross over between sea and sky. Now engineers from North Carolina State University have developed the EagleRay XAV, an amphibious fixed-wing drone that can fly above or dive below the waves as needed.

Following a series of successful sea trials, DARPA has handed its experimental autonomous warship over to the US Navy. The ACTUV "Sea Hunter" was formally transferred to the Office of Naval Research for further development of what could be the first of a new class of unmanned ocean-going ships.

​The Royal Navy's latest seagoing robot took to the waves today in the heart of London. Accompanied by patrol boat HMS Archer, the unmanned MAST autonomous speedboat negotiated the traffic on the Thames estuary.

The United States Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) is developing a fleet of robotic patrol boats that can not only act as escorts for larger warships or merchant vessels, but can also autonomously swarm around a threatening craft and destroy it.