Uncrewed Systems Technology 049 - April/May 2023

25 A nyone with first-hand experience of seasickness will know how unpleasant it is, and the range of measures available to avoid feeling it again. For the creators of the Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V) though, it sparked the birth and evolution of one of the most in-demand USVs in the maritime data market. The story of the WAM-V begins in the 1970s, when Drs Ugo and Isabella Conti took a round-the-world trip with their family on a 50 ft ketch, a journey spoiled by Ugo’s continuous seasickness. That drove him to envision engineering solutions to the boat’s rolling and crashing motions that had so upset his health. Eventually, in the late 1990s, the idea of a passively self-adjusting mechanical platform took hold in their minds, motivating them to found Marine Advanced Research in 2004. The company is now called Marine Advanced Robotics (MAR), to emphasise its focus on developing the WAM-V as a series of uncrewed platforms rather than crewed vessels (as the mechanisms originally developed to prevent seasickness also make for a survey platform that can remain highly stable amid rough seas), and is owned by Ocean Power Technologies (OPT), which acquired it in November 2021. Marine Advanced Robotics WAM-V | Dossier Chronic seasickness spurred the development of this USV and its patented suspension and articulation system. Rory Jackson has the details Uncrewed Systems Technology | April/May 2023 Proteus was the first demonstrator version of the WAM-V, developed as a crewed vessel and unveiled in 2007