Robotic service concepts for the port of tomorrow: Developed via a small-scale demonstration testbed

Abstract

The development of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) has been impelled in recent decades by oceanographic and military applications. USVs are ideally suited to perform routine tasks in port environments - such as collecting bathymetry data - and can act as a platform to develop new applications for the port of the future. This paper elaborates possible robotic service concepts for a port environment and describes the construction of a demonstration vehicle as a modular platform as well as the integration of the necessary software infrastructure in order to show the complete service pipeline. A key component of the development is the involvement of practitioners and potential end users from the port authority of Europe's 3rd largest seaport- the port of Hamburg.