INESC TEC co-organises World Robotic Sailing Championship

Between 5 and 10 September, the River Lima, in the city of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, will be filled with 100% autonomous vehicles equipped with innovative robotic applications. The vehicles will be participating in the World Robotic Sailing Championship – WRSC 2016, organised by the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC).

The organisers of the WRSC will participate with the sailboat FAST, which won the same competition in 2012, in Cardiff, Wales.

The FAST is an autonomous unmanned vessel featuring a computer and small electrical engines to maneuver the helm and move the sails. The electric power is guaranteed by a solar panel and stored in batteries that make it possible to operate the sailboat for long periods of time.

“With this event, we want to show how robotic sailboats are not only important to monitor the ocean in coastal surveillance operations, but also to collect oceanographic data”, explains José Carlos Alves, professor at FEUP and researcher at INESC TEC’s Centre for Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

Portugal will be represented in this competition by three groups – Nova University of Lisbon, the Naval School of the Portuguese Navy/CINAV and FEUP/INESC TEC.

About 50 people from nine countries – Portugal, Spain, France, England, Finland, United States, Japan, New Zealand and China – will be presenting robots, measuring up to four metres in length, which use the wind as the sole force of propulsion.

For more information on the WRSC, go to: www.wrsc2016.com  and www.facebook.com/World-Robotic-Sailing-Championship