Marine AI’s autonomous vessel system to set sail in New Zealand market
On Friday 20 September in Nelson – the centre of New Zealand’s blue economy - Marine AI launched its Guardian Mission Management software, an innovation set to make waves across New Zealand’s maritime sectors.
Leveraging technology 20 years in the making, Marine AI’s proprietary Guardian systems drive semi-autonomous and completely unmanned surface and underwater vessels.
The Guardian AI system provides a suite of four products, ranging from onshore monitoring to enabling vessels to sail completely unmanned.
Tests have recently been successfully completed on the vessel Thetis in the company’s home waters of Tasman Bay and is ready for deployment in New Zealand and Australia, where the opportunities to leverage data-rich semi-autonomous or fully unmanned sea vessels are many and varied.
Bob Cumming explains that the Guardian Mission Management system is built on well-established technology.
“Our system leverages the Guardian AI technology platform from the UK, which has been successfully developed and deployed across international waters over the last two decades, and which we are excited has now passed the test in New Zealand’s conditions,” he said. “As well as Guardian AI software, we utilise SnapCore’s camera hardware, to develop autonomous vessels that can safely operate in a wide range of marine environments.”
“As mariners, we know what it is like working in the marine environment. We bring that lived experience to the table, collaborating with our software engineers to solve the known challenges at sea, such as reducing fuel cost and environmental impact, improving safety, ensuring compliance, reducing labour costs, collecting accurate data, and system integration.”
Sean Doggett, Managing Director of Marine AI says the company is fielding calls from various industries such as fishing, transport, freight, defence and maritime survey services.
“The prospects for our Guardian AI system are exciting,” he says. “Already, there has been significant interest from both Australian and New Zealand-based companies.
“CEOs, COOs, Innovation Managers and the like are tasked with finding ways to improve operations, safety and environmental impact, and to investigate how AI can help them. This is our reason for being really – utilising our engineering and technology expertise to help companies who are looking for improvements across their fleet.”
Cumming adds that in particular, aquaculture is a clear winner for Guardian AI Mission Management
“The sector is on a growth trajectory and the technology can make a huge difference to the safety, efficiency and insights of the vessels used on aquaculture farms,” he says. “For example, in aquaculture, Guardian AI can give aquaculture companies unprecedented insights into the state of their marine farms in real time - harvest readiness, health and disease monitoring, environmental impact assessment and operational efficiency.
Beyond Friday’s launch, demonstrations will take place in Nelson and the Hauraki Gulf before the end of the year, with people to be invited from across relevant sectors who would benefit from autonomous vessels.
Doggett adds that companies can also book in a personal demonstration any other time, and production is running to schedule with data-rich unmanned sea vessels for use in aquaculture set to be operating in NZ waters from next year.
ABOUT GUARDIAN AI
The Guardian AI Mission Management software has tiers of capability, building up to vessels being able to operate completely autonomously. Its sub-products include:
Guardian Port – provides 24/7 monitoring for safety, security and navigational management in and around ports and harbours.
Guardian Vision – works like a black box, recording all navigational information with 360 degree video and providing relevant information for people to review in the event of an incident.
Guardian Helm (two variants):
Guardian Helm: Watch Guard - provides information directly to the helm and to a remote operations centre, automatically bringing potential hazards to the attention of the command team and providing an extra level of confidence to all navigational situations. All data, information and recommendations are recorded and retained.
Guardian Helm: Augmented Watch - provides the same augmented information as Watch Guard, but the helmsman can allow the system to directly control the steering and propulsion of the vessel.
Guardian Autonomy – designed to provide full autonomy*. The system is fully integrated into the vessel’s systems and can control the vessel as directed through the Guardian Mission Management software, removing the requirement for a helmsman or master to direct control.
*As described by IMO Autonomy Level 4.
ABOUT THETIS TESTING
There has been a period of development over the last year which has included adapting and upgrading an existing boat, the Thetis, with the required maritime hardware and software in order for the vessel to become autonomous. There was testing throughout the stages of the upgrade.
A number of scenarios were created with other vessels, ie. collision scenarios with vessels travelling at different speeds, directions, in various weather etc. Those scenarios were then carried out with the Thetis travelling autonomously (programmed and monitored from on shore, and with a skipper on board observing) and vessels driven by Marine AI crew, within Port Nelson and Tasman Bay.
All test scenarios were completed successfully, with the Thetis navigating safely to avoid collision, proving the functionality was ready for deployment across New Zealand and Australian fleets.
Thetis has been developed as a test and evaluation vessel – a platform that allows Marine AI to undertake rapid prototyping of new sensors, payloads and sensors for other vessels, whilst keeping a human in the loop for safety and assessment.
Following this week’s media launch in Nelson, a demonstration of this functionality will be held on the Hauraki Gulf in October for commercial businesses and government organisations including, but not limited to, NIWA, DOC and NZDF.