60 In operation | GPA Seabots SB 100 recharging slowly between cleaning operations (the speed of charging increasing with but not depending on direct sunlight), rendering human interaction and wired connections unnecessary for charging the vehicle. It would also eliminate much of the need for a human to carry the USV in and out of the water. “The dome-shaped solar roof maximises its passive charging rate, and we also have an inductive charging receptacle in the design concept so that it can navigate to an emitter for wireless charging of its batteries if it runs out of energy before it can complete a mission or return to its mooring location,” Barchino says. One less certain area is how the Harbot’s litter basket, oil containers and oil absorbers would be removed and replaced between outings, although Barchino notes that automated systems for handling these would be developed if the right investor or partner was found to bring the project forward. In the meantime, litter tends to be removed manually from the Harbot’s baskets, as with the Cleaner, and most harbours tend to store that litter in specified containers. This keeps a running tally of how much litter the USVs are gathering, to confirm that they are working correctly and assess how much they are removing from the water compared with targets, or with amounts removed by human workers in the past. Oil is removed and set aside from the absorbers in a similar manner, for comparable assessment reasons and also because of the chemical hazards that hydrocarbons pose. PPE is worn as a requirement during this phase. “As a final step, both the survey and sanitation USVs must be thoroughly cleaned with mineral water,” Barchino says. “These robots operate in salt water, and salt corrosion is the enemy of connectors and electronics housings. “The SB 100s are IP 65-rated, but even so, we train our customers in good practices to get a decent lifespan out of them. That includes cleaning with mineral water and storing them in places that aren’t too hot or too cold to prevent thermal wear over time.” Future plans GPA Seabots has an ambition to create a bigger USV than the Harbot, given the right partnership and programme. A bigger USV would mean dedicated space for GPUs performing onboard AI processing of visual, Lidar and radar data, to produce an intelligent harbour security patrol solution the company could couple with its solutions for clean-ups and underwater surveys. Barchino names these three areas – security, clean-ups and surveying – as the biggest causes of concern among port authorities. “We don’t want to develop such a technology for its own sake though,” he notes. “Commercial success in uncrewed systems comes from shaping your r&d around specific customer requirements. “But there’s been a surge in demand for professional USVs over the past few years, analogous to that in commercial UAVs and their influence on airspace regulations. We anticipate that maritime regulations will evolve similarly, making the use of USVs and investing in their development a normal part of owning and operating harbour infrastructure in the future.” December/January 2024 | Uncrewed Systems Technology SB 100 Cleaner Catamaran Lithium iron phosphate battery 103 x 75 x 55 cm Empty weight: 28 kg Payload capacity: 12 kg Operating speed: 1 m/s Maximum speed: 2 m/s Maximum power: 700 W Endurance: 3.5 hours Battery capacity: 30 Ah SB 100 Pro Catamaran Lithium iron phosphate battery 103 x 75 x 55 cm Empty weight: 31 kg Payload capacity: 15 kg Operating speed: 1 m/s Maximum speed: 2 m/s Maximum power: 700 W Endurance: 3 hours Battery capacity: 30 Ah Specifications The operating concept of the Harbot includes allowing it to sit still in water on days off, slowly and autonomously recharging via its solar panels
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