[ganashaw]

I work for a company that builds boats for many of the same goals in a more traditional form factor. The potential of autonomous marine vehicles is very high, and a very exciting field to be working in. https://www.asvglobal.com/

(If you're interested, we're hiring!)

[mojomark]

Do you need anybody in the US? I'm a senior marine engineer, working on my masters in CS. I'm interested in larger UUV's and USV's in general.

[ganashaw]

Most of our software roles (one of the biggest teams we're growing at the moment) are located in the U.S.! We'd be very interested to hear from you.

[mojomark]

OK, interesting, I'll reach out and inquire. Thanks

[w_t_payne]

ASV global is an amazing company to work for.

A unique and very special group of people. I cannot recommend the place highly enough.

[layoric]

I’m hoping autonomous large scale plastics removal is something being looked into. This seems to be the only way to stem the plastic pollution explosion that has been occurring. I currently work in renewable energy industry but I can see myself wanting to move into this space in 5ish years due to the scale and impact of this problem is having and wanting to work with anyone working towards solutions.

[scooble]

How do your vessels comply with the international collision regulations? In particular, the requirement to 'at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions'?

[ganashaw]

As it happens my full-time job is working on our COLREGS path planning and collision avoidance :) Our primary focus at the moment are the rules concerning standing on/giving way with respect to other vessels. Some of the other rules, such as the one you mention, aren't being handled at the moment. However, we do have active projects working on the vision side of things to help get us closer to full compliance.

[scooble]

Good to know. My primary concern, as a sailor, is a drone having no way of seeing me. Not all yachts have AIS, and radar can be notoriously unreliable in certain conditions. The drones in the article are only a touch smaller than my yacht, and quite possibly capable of sinking it in the event of a collision. And while it may be relatively straightforward to program stand on/give way behaviour, some of the other aspects of the the colregs, and good seamanship, such as responding to sound signals seem more intractable.

[tsaoyu]

Indeed, we have a previous team (robotics sailing team) member now working at ASV UK. A very exciting job