Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has completed a first successful demonstration of its Proteus unmanned surface vessel (USV) for testing and development of autonomy capabilities, outfitted with Sea Machines Robotics’ SM300 autonomous operations system.
The USV was equipped with commercial perception sensors, including GPS, automatic identification system (AIS), depth transducer, radar and a camera enabling a 360-degree field of view for the demonstration in Florida.
HII, a minority investor in Sea Machines Robotics since July 2020, deployed a separate dive boat during the event to demonstrate use of the SM300 system, including its obstacle avoidance capability and adherence to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs).
“We are thrilled to launch our Proteus USV. The vessel performed exactly as expected with the SM300 system’s proven and safe autonomous capability,” said Duane Fotheringham, President of the Unmanned Systems business group in HII’s Technical Solutions division.
“This marks a significant milestone in our commitment to advancing our unmanned systems capabilities and our continued partnership with Sea Machines to further develop USV solutions for our customers.”
