The Design, Building and Testing of a Trans-Atlantic Autonomous Sailboat
The use of autonomous vehicles is growing in all industries. However, there are no open-source autonomous surface vehicles available in the marine industry. This paper details the design decisions made, construction methods used, and testing performed on a low-cost, open-source vessel. The vessel was designed to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a means of proving its ability to survive the harsh marine environment. A trimaran hull form and free rotating wing sail were used because the combination provided good righting characteristics, durability and low power consumption. The vessel has been shown to navigate autonomously. Total costs were less than $4000 dollars, excluding labor. Vessels of this type could be used for long duration missions recording data in the open ocean at extremely low cost.