To improve transportation options in crowded city

Amsterdam invents the watercraft "robot" to transport passengers and goods

The robotic vehicle is digitally connected to the Amsterdam City Water Traffic Department.

From the source

Visitors to the Dutch city of Amsterdam will be able to watch self-driving watercraft the size of a small car cruising the city's ancient canals, carrying passengers or transporting goods and waste.

These "robots" boats will be equipped with electric power, and they will be called "robot" to look more attractive than the "floating vehicle", and will soon begin its trial trips aimed at improving transportation options in the always crowded city.

traffic jams

“We have a lot of traffic jams that bring chaos in small streets, and at the same time we have a lot of open water channels, building Therefore, we have developed self-driving boats to help facilitate transportation in the city.”

waste collection

After four years of experimenting with small models of this innovation, and making the necessary improvements to the idea, the manufacturers were able last week to come up with this life-sized mobile robot. The first experiments with this robot will be related to the possibility of carrying out a very necessary task, which is “waste collection”, after this task was related to truck cars, which have become a threat to the safety of narrow streets in the city, and cause traffic jams, and therefore these robots can play the role of garbage containers. Floating, and move it to the designated places when it becomes full.

These robots will need to be digitally interconnected with the city's water traffic department, in order to avoid collisions between them, but director of innovation, Stephen Van Dyck, said that one of the big benefits of these robots is that they do not need humans to drive them, as they are able to "see" in the night.

He added: "Accordingly, we can use the night time to collect waste, and also bring building materials to the city, and during the day they work as boats to transport passengers."

Mechanism of Action

In the submerged part, these robots operate in a similar way to unmanned aircraft, but in reverse, that is, the direction of the propellers downward.

It is equipped with two propellers: one in the front and the other in the back, allowing the robot to maneuver as nimble and smooth as most human sailors work.

Of course, the robot has batteries to power these devices.

The installed robots are equipped with laser imaging systems, in addition to positioning systems in the front and back, as well as many cameras on the sides to help determine their location. The robot is also programmed by computers located on the beach.

These robots are still not allowed to enter the city's natural traffic lanes, but in the long run, the average size of these robots, which weigh 1,200 kilograms, can be used by human passengers, in addition to the model designed to transport waste, and they are designed to be linked to each other .

Connecting these robots together could open the door to one-off uses such as a floating party platform, a makeshift bridge, forming large cargo ships, or forming a circle of robots to contain oil spills at sea, Van Dyck said.