Amsterdam gets ready to test self-driving boats to transport goods and people

By Bruce Brown September 19, 2016

Self-driving boats have a future in city canals. A five-year program to test the functions these autonomous boats in Amsterdam’s canals kicked off with an announcement on Monday, according to The Verge.

The Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) has partnered with MIT, Delft University of Technology, and Wageningen University and Research. The project, called Roboat, has $27 million in funding to see develop robot boats for a wide range of purposes. The group expects to have the initial prototypes on the canals by 2017.

Amsterdam has more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) of canals that wind through the city and almost one-quarter of the city is covered by water. Self-driving cars do not elicit a lot of interest but self-driving boats could serve many functions.

“Imagine a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Carlo Ratti said in a press release. “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.”

Another area of interest of the Roboat program is how to implement self-driving aquatic vessels to help with public health. The scientists will use robots in Amsterdam’s sewer systems to map the spread of diseases. MIT’s involvement in the project in this aspect overlaps with the university’s Underworlds Initiative, studying the use of sensors in sewer systems.

Global warming, rising tides, and sea level concerns are a focus of potential Roboat implementation. According to AMS scientific director Arjan van Timmeren, 80 percent of global economic output and 60 percent of the world’s population is located around coastal and delta areas. Developed floating structures and transport vehicles could be in significant demand.

It is no coincidence the Roboat program is also partnering with the city of Boston, MIT’s home city. According to Timmeren, Boston is one of the most vulnerable U.S. cities in the face of rising tides and sea levels. In 2014, Boston city planners considered instituting infrastructure changes for the eventuality of becoming a city of canals like Amsterdam and Venice, Italy.

Topics

Contributing Editor

Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…

Deals

The 11 best Father’s Day deals that you can get for Sunday

Data from a workout showing on the screen of the Apple Watch Series 8.

Father's Day is fast approaching and there's still time to buy your beloved Dad a sweet new device to show him how much you love him. That's why we've rounded up the ten best Father's Day tech deals going on right now. There's something for most budgets here, including if you're able to spend a lot on your loved one. Read on while we take you through the highlights and remember to order fast so you don't miss out on the big day.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 -- $200, was $230

While it's the Plus version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 that features in our look at the best tablets, the standard variety is still worth checking out. Saving your Dad the need to dig out their laptop or squint at a small phone screen, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 offers a large 10.5-inch LCD display and all the useful features you would expect. 128GB of storage means plenty of room for all your Dad's favorite apps as well as games too. A long-lasting battery and fast charging save him the need for a power source too often too.

Deals

The Apollo wearable is proven to help you sleep better (and it’s on sale)

Apollo wearable worn during sleep in bed.

This content was produced in partnership with Apollo Neuro.
Stress, anxiety, and insomnia are all concerning things that just about everyone struggles with at one time or another. Maybe you can sleep, fending off insomnia, but you lack quality sleep and don’t feel rested in the morning. Or, maybe when it’s time to kick back and relax, you just can’t find a way to do so. There are many solutions for these issues, some work, and others don’t, but one unlikely area of support can be found in a modern, smart wearable.

Medicine is the obvious choice, but not everyone prefers to go that route. There is an answer in modern technology or rather a modern wearable device. One such device is the Apollo wearable, which improves sleep and stress relief via touch therapy. According to Apollo Neuro, the company behind the device, which is worn on your ankle, wrist or clipped to your clothing, it sends out waves of vibrations to help your body relax and reduce feelings of stress. It's an interesting new approach to a common problem that has typically been resolved via medicine, therapy, or other more invasive and time-consuming techniques. The way it utilizes those vibrations, uniquely placed and administered, to create a sense of peace, makes us ask, can it really cure what ails us? We’ll dig a little deeper into how it achieves what it does and what methods it’s using to make you feel better.

Space

What comes after Webb? NASA’s next-generation planet-hunting telescope

An illustration shows how NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory would measure the atmosphere of distant planets.

When it comes to building enormous, complex space telescopes, agencies like NASA have to plan far in advance. Even though the James Webb Space Telescope only launched recently, astronomers are already busy thinking about what will come after Webb — and they've got ambitious plans.

The big plan for the next decades of astronomy research is to find habitable planets, and maybe even to search for signs of life beyond Earth. That's the lofty goal of the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a space telescope currently in the planning phase that is aimed at discovering 25 Earth-like planets around sun-like stars.