ASV C-Enduro for Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University’s Edinburgh Campus (UK) has confirmed the order of an ASV C-Enduro. The C-Enduro Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) will be used for research in persistent and long-term autonomy with multiple remote and autonomous marine platforms. The vehicle’s primary application will be as a moving navigation and communication platform for AUVs.
Professor David Lane of Heriot-Watt said that the vehicle will be available to students in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Robotics and Autonomous Systems as a research facility. Upward of 65 innovation-ready PhD students will be trained in aspects of robot interaction, starting in the autumn of 2014.
The research involving C-Enduro forms part of the ROBOTARIUM national UK facility for research into the interactions amongst robots, environments, people and autonomous systems. This initiative is run by EDU-RAS (The Edinburgh Alliance in Robots and Autonomous Systems) and involves both Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh.
The ASV C-Enduro was selected during a competitive tendering process which was first advertised in November 2013. Differing to previous variations of C-Enduro built by ASV, this lighter model will be battery powered only.
