A crewless ship designed to recreate the Mayflower's historic journey across the Atlantic 400 years ago is returning to the UK after developing a

AI-driven robot Mayflower sails back after fault develops

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2021-06-19 11:30:05

A crewless ship designed to recreate the Mayflower's historic journey across the Atlantic 400 years ago is returning to the UK after developing a fault.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) set sail on Tuesday on a 3,500-mile (5,630km) journey from Plymouth in the UK to Massachusetts in the US.

The 50ft (15m) long solar-powered trimaran is capable of speeds of up to 10 knots (20km/h) and is being navigated by on-board artificial intelligence (AI) with information from six cameras and 50 sensors.

The vessel was created to show the development of technology in the centuries since the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World, bosses said.

The original Mayflower, a 100ft (30m) triple-masted wooden vessel with canvas sails and a top speed of three knots (6km/h), carried 102 passengers and a crew of about 30 from Plymouth to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The 2020 version of the boat is made of aluminium composite, with a back-up diesel generator to go with its solar-powered batteries.

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