A method of automatically moving, by an automatic location placement system, a marine vessel includes receiving, by a central processing unit, from a vision ranging photography system, at least one optical feed including data providing a mapping of an environment surrounding a marine vessel. The method includes displaying, by the central processing unit, on a touch screen monitor, the mapping of the environment. The method includes receiving, by the central processing unit, from the touch screen monitor, target location data. The method includes directing, by the central processing unit, at least one element of a propulsion system of the marine vessel, to move the marine vessel to the targeted location, using the mapping.

A propulsion rudder for use with a water vessel, preferably an unmanned surface water vessel. The propulsion rudder includes a rotating base, a rudder assembly, and a thrust assembly. In one embodiment, the rudder assembly may comprise two vertical mast rudders connected by an upper horizontal wing, with the thrust assembly mounted on the horizontal wing. In a second embodiment, the rudder assembly may comprise an annular airfoil with the thrust assembly mounted on a mast and positioned in the center of the annular airfoil. The thrust assembly may be a propeller, a turbine, a ramjet, or a rocket.

A control target controller generates control targets in accordance with a route, the control targets being for controlling the location and orientation of a ship. The route has a plurality of via points. Each of the via points has information about a target location and a target orientation for the ship. The route is made up of a plurality of partial routes that sequentially connect the target locations of the via points. The control target controller comprises a transit target point generation part and an arrival determination part. The transit target point generation part can generate, as control targets, transit target points that are in the middle of the partial routes and have information about a target location and a target orientation for the ship. On the basis of the current location and the current orientation of the ship, the arrival determination part determines whether the ship has arrived at the transit target points.

A system for autonomous ocean data collection includes at least one sensor capable of collecting sensor data, at least one transmission device, and at least one computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and memory coupled to the one or more hardware processors, the memory storing one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the at least one computing device to generate data for transmission based on the sensor data collected by the at least one sensor, and cause the at least one transmission device to transmit the data.

A traveling route generating device is provided, which may include a user interface and processing circuitry. The user interface may receive a home route that is a route on which a ship travels upon departing from a home harbor or upon returning to the home harbor, the home harbor being a location from which the ship departs. The processing circuitry may generate a traveling route between one of a destination of the ship and a current location of the ship, and a location on the home route.

A marine vessel maneuvering system that is able to avoid a collision with an object includes a controller configured or programmed to function as a judging unit to judge whether or not there is a collision possibility of a collision between an object and a marine vessel, wherein the controller is configured or programmed to execute a deceleration control in response to the judging unit judging that there is the collision possibility.

A system includes a data communication module, a position sensor, and a controller. The position sensor is operable to detect a position of a watercraft. The controller is configured or programmed to send at least one of functional information, trouble information, or operational information to an external computer through a data communication module. In the functional information, an automatic control function of a marine propulsion device and the position of the watercraft when the automatic control function is used are associated with each other. In the trouble information, a trouble in the marine propulsion device and the position of the watercraft when the trouble occurred are associated with each other. In the operational information, an operational pattern performed by a user for the marine propulsion device and the position of the watercraft when the operational pattern is performed are associated with each other.

Provided is an autonomous ship navigation apparatus including an acquisition unit configured to acquire a surrounding environment image, marine information, and navigation information, a map generation unit configured to generate a grid map by displaying topography, a host ship, and an obstacle corresponding to the marine information and the navigation information in the surrounding environment image, and a sailing method determination unit configured to determine a sailing method of a ship through deep reinforcement learning based on the grid map, the marine information, and the navigation information.

A method of automatically moving, by an automatic location placement system, a marine vessel includes receiving, by a central processing unit, from a vision ranging photography system, at least one optical feed including data providing a mapping of an environment surrounding a marine vessel. The method includes displaying, by the central processing unit, on a touch screen monitor, the mapping of the environment. The method includes receiving, by the central processing unit, from the touch screen monitor, target location data. The method includes directing, by the central processing unit, at least one element of a propulsion system of the marine vessel, to move the marine vessel to the targeted location, using the mapping.

A marine propulsion system includes a main propulsion device operable to rotate in a right-left direction to change a direction of a thrust, an auxiliary propulsion device including an electric motor to drive an auxiliary thruster and operable to rotate in the right-left direction to change a direction of a thrust, and a controller configured or programmed to perform a drift control to move a hull under external forces including wind and water flow while maintaining an orientation of a bow of the hull at a target orientation by rotating the hull. The controller is configured or programmed to maintain the orientation of the bow at the target orientation by rotating the hull by driving the auxiliary thruster while stopping a main thruster of the main propulsion device in the drift control.