A method is disclosed for controlling heading of a marine vessel having a steerable component coupled thereto, the steerable component being rotatable to affect a direction of movement of the vessel. The method is carried out by a control module and includes accepting a command to initiate a control mode in which the vessel's heading is to be maintained at a desired heading. The method includes receiving a current heading of the vessel and determining a heading error between the current heading and the desired heading. The method also includes determining if the vessel is on-plane or off-plane. In response to the vessel being off-plane, the method includes controlling the steerable component to rotate by at least a predetermined correction amount away from a starting position in a direction that will cause the vessel to rotate to reduce the heading error, and subsequently to rotate back toward the starting position.

A submersible remotely operable vehicle used for inspection of liquid cooled electrical transformers can include a number of separate cameras and sensors for mapping and navigating the internal structure of the transformer with liquid coolant remaining in the transformer. The remotely operable vehicle can be wirelessly controlled to perform various inspection functions while the number of cameras provide video streams for processing to produce a three dimensional field of view based on an observation position of the remotely operable vehicle.

Various aspects provide for a propulsion system (200) for a ship (100) comprising at least first and second thrusters (205, 206) and first and second directors (220, 720), wherein a computing platform (300) is coupled to the thrusters and directors being configured to receive desired longitudinal and lateral headings (750, 760) and determine a configuration of the propulsion system that is expected to propel the ship in the desired longitudinal and lateral headings.

Automatic swimming pool cleaners (APCs) may include debris filters accessible from externally of the swimming pools in which the APCs are operating. The APCs may be programmed to climb to waterlines of the pools and present their debris filters above the waterlines for removal by users positioned outside the pools. Sensors may determine whether the filters have been reinstalled within the APCs, thus allowing the APCs to return to cleaning service.

An autonomous vessel and method for transporting a cargo from an origin to a destination utilizing water currents, a satellite location system, and a satellite communication system includes a hull for navigating a body of water. A communication module is adapted for wireless communication with local contacts and the satellite communication system. A propulsion module is adapted to propel the hull through the body of water and preferably includes one or more relatively low-power electric motors. A navigation module is adapted to steer the hull towards a next waypoint. The navigation module preferably includes a rudder control system and is connected with a location module that is itself adapted for communication with the satellite location system to find a current location of the hull on the body of water. A controller is adapted for controlling the modules, sending information, and for receiving commands and information.

Methods by which an autonomous vehicle may predict actions of other actors are disclosed. A vehicle will assign either a high priority rating or a low priority rating to each actor that it detects. The vehicle will then generate a forecast for each of the detected actors. Some of not all high priority actors will receive a high resolution forecast. Low priority actors, and optionally also some of the high priority actors, will receive a low resolution forecast. The system will the forecasts to predict actions for the actors. The autonomous vehicle will then use the predicted actions to determine its trajectory.

A watercraft maneuvering control apparatus for controlling a propulsion device of a watercraft includes an obstacle sensor to detect an obstacle around the watercraft, a pattern sailing commander operated by a user to provide a command to sail the watercraft in a sailing pattern, and a controller configured or programmed to control the propulsion device. The controller is configured or programmed to function as a pattern sailing controller to control the propulsion device to sail the watercraft in the sailing pattern, an expected sailing water area computer to compute an expected sailing water area when the watercraft is sailed in the sailing pattern, and a pattern sailing intervener to suspend or cancel the pattern sailing of the watercraft when the obstacle sensor detects an obstacle interfering with the expected sailing water area.

An autonomous lifebuoy includes a body, an electric power supply, a propelling module and a control unit configured to control the autonomous lifebuoy so as to automatically guide the autonomous lifebuoy towards a person overboard in water, during a man overboard (MOB) situation. The control unit includes at least one communication module, a non-volatile memory, a graphics processing unit (GPU) configured to perform an image comparison and a microcomputer configured to make calculations, based on at least the image comparison performed by the graphics processing unit (GPU), and issue commands to at least the propelling module to propel the autonomous lifebuoy towards the person overboard in the water during the man overboard (MOB) situation.

A lease management method of an electric power motion apparatus includes acquiring location information, an advancement direction and a battery state of the electric power motion apparatus; additionally adjusting the advancement direction of the electric power motion apparatus to face towards the lease station such that the electric power motion apparatus faces towards the lease station based on normal adjustment and control if the electric power motion apparatus is located outside a lease range of a lease station; and additionally controlling the electric power motion apparatus to decelerate, and additionally adjusting the advancement direction of the electric power motion apparatus to face towards the lease station such that the electric power motion apparatus advances towards the lease station based on normal adjustment and control if a remaining power amount of the electric power motion apparatus approaches a power amount for returning to the lease station.

An apparatus for artificial intelligence (AI) bathymetry is disclosed. The apparatus includes a sonic unit attached to a boat, the sonic unit configured to generate a plurality of metric data as a function of a plurality of ultrasonic pulses and a plurality of return pulses. An image processing module is configured to generate a bathymetric image as a function of the plurality of metric data, identify, as a function of the bathymetric image, an underwater landmark, and register the bathymetric image to a map location as a function of the underwater landmark. A communication module is configured to transmit the registered bathymetric image to at least a remote device. An autonomous navigation module is configured to determine a heading for the boat as a function of a path datum and command boat control to navigate the boat as a function of the heading.