Soon we can do away with sailors and captains as the future of the boats lies in the hands of robots. This was proved at the recent World Robotic Sailing Championship on Lake Neusiedl in Austria where the Austrian Roboat won the race. True to its name, the winner is an autonomous robotic sailboat, which is able to autonomously navigate towards any given target without human control or intervention. The race was intended as a public proof of concept for long-range autonomous sea-faring scientific vessels. The vision of machines which relieve more and more tasks of humans induced many scientific initiatives in mobile robotics.
An increasing number of research teams around the world pursuing their boats the complex task of sailing. The best routeing decision, perfect handling of ever changing wind conditions and perfect timing during tack and jibe are some of the skills a world champion in robotic sailing has to master. So guys its time to change your career path or line of work if you are in the same line as these automated boats are not going to be left behind.
Source: CommunistRobot