Recent events, like the devastating tsunami in Asia, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, accidents involving refugee boats off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy, and pirate activities in the Gulf of Aden have clearly emphasized impressively the importance of a fully integrated ocean observation system. Robotic sailing boats represent a rapidly emerging technology for various tasks on lakes and oceans. They offer the possibility of sampling an area of interest with high temporal and spatial resolution at low cost.
The ASV Roboat is the world's leading Robotic sailboat and has been in development by a INNOC research team since 2006. Robotic sail boats perform the complex manoeuvres of sailing fully automatically and without human assistance.
The team won several international competitions including four times the World Robotic Sailing Championships.