Maritime Robot on Mission South of England
The ASV C-Enduro embarked on a robotics mission along with six other unmanned marine vessels off the southwest of England.
Selected to take part by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), C-Enduro is fitted with a range of meteorological and oceanographic sensors to collect scientific data about ocean processes and marine life. The project, coordinated by NOC, is the most ambitious of its kind in Europe. The vehicles are aiming to travel up to 300 miles over the next 20 days.
Communication with C-Enduro will take place over satellite and will be conducted from a control station at ASV's new facility in Portchester. The exercise brings together a wide range of partners including scientists and engineers from research institutes and universities, commercials organisations, government agencies, as well as the MET Office and the Royal Navy.
This vehicle is one of three C-Enduro vehicles designed and built by ASV in the past year. The concept was born out of an SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) initiated by NOC's requirement for a long endurance USV for environmental research. Designed to be at sea for up to 90 days, C-Enduro is powered by a combination of wind power, solar power and a lightweight diesel generator.
Speaking about the concept, ASV Managing Director Dan Hook said "ASV is driving the transformation of autonomous vehicle design and operations and has worked hard and fast to develop the C-Enduro utilising some excellent UK engineering companies. Working with NOC and being involved in this project is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of C-Enduro and has played a huge part in its overall development".