Greenroom has been flat out developing new products and solutions, and we have definitely dropped the ball on our blogs. But hopefully that is changing and here is the first of many blogs about an exciting Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) that is currently being constructed in North Queensland.
Image of the current progress, with the bow, console, propulsion and canopy remaining to be fitted. This brand new, custom built vessel will be the flagship test-bed for the Greenroom Robotics team and we are very excited to be able to share our current progress and some details about this awesome vessel. We aim to do a series of blog posts about the construction, design, hardware production and software development.
The vessel has been named TI Princess, this name was inspired by the Islands of the Torres Strait in North-Eastern Australia. After multiple visits to the region and meeting the people of these incredible islands a clear need was seen to provide reliable, environmentally friendly and long lasting access to transport people and goods for island communities. The strong history, background and spirit of the people that have inhabited the Torres Strait Islands for thousands of years are the inspiration and namesake for Greenroom’s first full size ASV system.
After trips to the Torres Strait over a number of years, the team noticed the need for a strong but lightweight vessel that required minimal maintenance and the ability to operate without the use of fossil fuels. Though the vessel has not been contracted by a client and there is no current customer, the basic set of design guidelines for operation in this environment also produces ideal system configurations and vessel properties for a robust and powerful ASV system.
Over 12 months the design has been refined with constant input from Naval Architects, Boat Builders, Marine Surveyors and maritime autonomy specialists. The final design is a 7m aluminium vessel fitted with both petrol and electric propulsion, a large area of solar panels and the infrastructure to support the spiral development of autonomous systems and sensing equipment. The vessel has the following general particulars:
| Hull-type: | Trimaran |
| Construction: | Aluminium |
| LOA: | 7m |
| Beam: | 2.49m |
| Draft: | 0.5m |
| Propulsion: | Hybrid (Electric and Petrol) |
| Endurance (petrol): | Petrol – Estimated 24 hours @ 12 knots. |
| Endurance (electric): | Electric – Unknown, theoretically indefinite. |
The design supports the rapid development of autonomous behaviors, advanced sensors and control systems as well as test and evaluation processes. The deck, structure, columns and canopy are fitted with dedicated channels for the rapid rollout of sensor wiring without any engineering modifications. This enables Greenroom to upgrade, change and retrofit all of our latest technology and systems for real world trials and testing. The hybrid propulsion, inherent trimaran stability and light weight construction of the TI Princess is the perfect test bed for Greenroom to become a leader in Maritime Autonomous solutions.
We will be providing updates on the progress over the next few weeks, with an intended launch date in December 2020. We are really excited about this project and it is something we have been working towards for a few years now. We would love to hear thoughts and hear from anyone that would be interested in the application of our technology or solutions.
