
Robots trying longest ever unmanned marine voyage
24 November 2011 - A quartet of robots set out last week on a 300-plus day journey that will take them 33,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean - the longest voyage ever attempted by an unmanned sailing craft, according to various reports. BBC News reported last Friday that the four robots, which were created by an American company called Liquid Robotics, departed from the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco on November 17. At first they will travel together before pairing off into groups of two, one of which will head to Australia and the other embarking en route to Japan in order to support a Mariana Trench dive. "During their 300-day journey, the surfboard-sized Wave Gliders… will collect vast amounts of real-time data on ocean conditions and bea...