He Mayflower brought some of the first European settlers across the Atlantic Ocean to North America, 400 years ago this year.
To commemorate the anniversary, another ship recreates that voyage, with the help of artificial intelligence.
“We don’t know how it’s going to go. Are you going to cross the Atlantic?” software engineer and emerging technology specialist Rosie Lickorish told Roxana Saberi of CBS News. “Fingers crossed I had a successful first trip.”
The ship, docked at the port of Plymouth, England, will be based on the latest navigation technology when it goes to sea, but will not carry any crew or captain.
“We have all kinds of cameras … We have global positioning systems on both sides,” said Brett Phaneuf, a robotics expert.
What it won’t have, he said, is “people’s space”.
Instead, the ship will be guided by artificial intelligence designed by IBM.
Phaneuf explained how technology is supposed to work.
“Look at your own cameras like eyes, look at the radar, look at all sorts of other sensors,” he said. “Then he draws his own course and can face unique situations without any human input.”
These situations include encountering other ships during the voyage: something that software engineer Ollie Thompson is working hard to train the ship’s programming to recognize the use of more than a million different images.
“We’re simulating what he’s seeing,” he said of the ship.
Programmers also mark the ship’s destination in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to trace Mayflower’s four-century passage.
The wooden merchant ship took 66 days to transport dozens of pilgrims across the Atlantic.
A replica sailed from England to Massachusetts in the 1950s, and is still moored there today.
But Phenauf, who grew up near Plymouth, Massachusetts, wanted to mark Mayflower’s famous past by looking ahead.
“So I thought we should build a ship that talks about the next 400 years. What will the shipping company look like contrary to what it looked like 400 years ago,” he said.
An international team turned their vision into the autonomous Mayflower ship with solar and wind energy. Its mission is to learn more about Earth’s oceans by collecting data on plastic pollution, water warming, and its effects on marine life.
Software developer Rosie Likorish said the autonomous ship is a more cost-effective way to conduct research.
“Right now it’s very expensive for scientists conducting these research missions,” he said. “So having autonomous ships like Mayflower’s autonomous ship is a really important step and it allows us to really get out into these dangerous places and learn a lot more.”
In addition to saving costs, not having a crew means that the size of the boat can be compact and that there is no concern that someone will get sick or hurt.
Brett Phenauf said his biggest concern would be if something broke.
If the ship capsized, the team plans to track it down and save it.
And if the unknown journey succeeds, Phenauf says he would commemorate history by charting a new path.
He said, “I want people to look at the next 400 years and think about the difference this made to other people.”