Amsterdam Planning ‘Roboat’ Fleet
The Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) has announced a new, five-year initiative to put a fleet of autonomous boats onto Amsterdam’s expansive canal system. The boats will be known as “roboats.”
Researchers for the program, dubbed the AMS canal program, will receive $27 million in funding to help with their cause. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and two Dutch universities, the Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University and Research, will work in coordination with researchers from the AMS. Carlo Ratti from MIT sees a lot of room for opportunities if this program can get off the ground, or in this case, in the water, successfully.
“Imagine a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people,” said Ratti in an article from MarketWatch. “But also think of dynamic and temporary floating infrastructure, like on-demand bridges and stages, that can be assembled or disassembled in a matter of hours.”
As Ratti stated, there are a number of possible uses for the boats, but the hope is that these boats can also help with gathering environmental data, such as water quality, air quality and noise. There is also a belief that the boats could help rid the canals of waste and bikes that end up in the water.
The AMS would like to have the first prototype ready for the canal system by next year.
