Safe Boats International has formed a production partnership with West Palm Beach, Fla.-based autonomous maritime technology provider, Mythos AI.
Bremerton, Wash.-based Safe Boats has delivered a purpose-built Porter 78S workboat to Mythos which will be featured at next week's 2022 International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans.
The aluminum-hull, outboard-driven Porter 78S survey boat, built under an exclusive license agreement with Stormer Work Boats of the Netherlands, is designed to integrate Mythos' self driving and autonomous hydrographic survey control system.
Mythos' first autonomous Safe Porter 78S hydrographic survey vessel, ArchieOne, is fully equipped and in-service, collecting data and demonstrating its capabilities to hydrographic survey stakeholders in the U.S. southeast. The second vessel is nearing completion and future builds are scheduled for 2023 and beyond.
SAFE Boats CEO, Richard Schwarz, made the following statement about the partnership with Mythos AI: “Safe Boats was attracted to Mythos AI’s focused and realistic application of self driving, autonomous car technology to solve workflow inefficiencies for workboat operators," said Safe Boats CEO Richard Schwarz. "Their team has a refreshing approach to addressing this underserved space and has developed exciting capabilities in a short time span. It’s exciting to be a critical partner and witness their technology rollout.”
Mythos applies self driving, car-derived technology and applies it to the more manageable maritime environment. ArchieOne, Mythos AI’s initial product offering, is a vertically integrated autonomous hydrographic survey vessel. Hydrographic surveys require a specialized skill set and the ability to rapidly interpret various environmental details. They are conducted at low speeds where maintaining course and coverage requirements manually is a challenge while executing dynamic routes to avoid obstacles and collisions in congested waterways.
The Mythos system walks operators through the acquisition process of high fidelity, multibeam sonar data from start-to-finish, layering in autonomous quality-control and self-driving to reduce human-prone error and, in turn, increases the efficiency of surveys tenfold.
“Mythos AI sought Safe Boats as its production partner for their proven quality, discipline, and precision in replicating boats for large programs," said Mythos AI CEO Geoff Douglass. "Commercial, self-driving robotics and autonomous systems require a level of engineering and manufacturing discipline that is challenging to find in boatbuilding. The team at Safe had this discipline and was from start to finish a great program partner. Safe Boats and the Stormer Porter 78S are the ideal builder and vessel platform for our initial market offering.”
The Porter 78S is an 8m x 3m aluminum workboat powered by dual outboard engines with a large pilothouse and working deck area inclusive of a moonpool for multibeam sonar deployment. The Porter range of workboats are offered by Safe in inboard and outboard configurations from 6.5m to 12m.
