Oshen’s robotic sailboat completes first autonomous Atlantic crossing
British marine robotics company Oshen has completed the first fully autonomous Atlantic crossing in the history of the Microtransat Challenge.
The robotic sailboat C-Star PC13 covered 3,355 miles in 127 days. Its voyage began after the vessel was deployed near the Canary Islands and ended on Sunday morning when it crossed the 13-mile-wide finish line off the coast of Barbados.
The Microtransat Challenge was launched in 2006 to encourage the development of autonomous sailing vessels measuring less than 2.5 metres in length. Despite numerous attempts over the past 20 years, no vessel had previously completed an autonomous crossing of the Atlantic.
For Oshen, the successful voyage was the result of several years of engineering work and two previous unsuccessful attempts. Company founders Anahita Laverack and Kieran Dowds first became interested in marine robotics through the Microtransat Challenge before establishing Oshen.
During the voyage, C-Star PC13 also collected data on a developing low-pressure system that later became Storm Dolly.
The mission demonstrated the potential of small autonomous platforms to collect environmental and meteorological data in remote ocean areas without placing crew members at risk.
Oshen develops compact autonomous surface vessels designed for continuous collection of oceanographic, meteorological and other marine data. These platforms can operate at sea for extended periods while performing missions that may be too expensive or dangerous for conventional crewed vessels.
