The second vessel in Sydney-based SME Ocius Technologies' Bruce class of Bluebottle unmanned surface vessels (USVs), christened Bob, has undertaken initial sea trials.
In a statement, the company said that design changes to the trim, displacement and helm immediately showed improvements in the vessel’s performance.
In addition, algorithms and software developed using first-of-class Bruce successfully integrated onto Bob.
The Bruce class of USV offer 300 kg of payload capacity, 50W of power with eight hours of sunlight, a 100m keel winch for undersea sensors, the ability to launch and recover from a conventional boat ramp, and more.
In late 2018, Ocius won a $1.7 million contract from Defence to determine the viability of an intelligent command and control network of persistent unmanned surface vessels.