Mayflower 400: First Artificial Intelligence Ship

Mayflower 400 is the world’s first Artificial Intelligence ship.

About Mayflower 400

• It is 15 metres long and weighs nine tonnes. It is basically a trimaran.
• It navigates with complete autonomy.
• The ship is to study marine pollution and analyze plastics in water. The voyage is important because more than 80% of the underwater world remains unexplored.
• It has been taught on how to avoid collisions. Thus, the ship can correct itself. It has been trained with hundred hours of audio data. The training will help the ship to detect the presence of marine animals and thereby provide information about the population distribution of these animals in the ocean.
• Sophisticated cameras and radars will act as the eyes and ears of the ship. There are six cameras in the ship.
• Till now, the ship is capable of handling waves that are fifty metres high.
• The team is to monitor the ship twenty-four hours from England.
• It is capable of self-activating a hydrophone that can listen to whales.
• The ship is covered with solar panels.
• The data gathered by the ship is to be available for free.

After the launch, Mayflower will become the first unmanned vehicle to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Benefits

One of the main advantages of launching Mayflower 400 is that it helps to overcome the major challenge in studying the underwater world, which is rough seas. Sailors get sick at sea or a storm might strike them down. The exploration area by a ship can be increased three-fold if it takes a voyage without people.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021