What do you know about the settlers that traveled to America in 1620? Would you be surprised that an automatic ship could take the same path as them in two weeks? Well, this ship will have no passengers or crew members aboard and be fully functional by itself.

A group in the United Kingdom along with some assistance with IBM, developed a fully autonomous boat. It will mimic the journey of the Mayflower, following the same path that the settlers did. The boat is called the Mayflower Autonomous Ship. The boat has AI systems given by IBM, assembled by ProMare, and the University of Birmingham assists with technology. The trip from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts will take around two weeks. As the boat crosses the Atlantic, it will take samples from the ocean to acquire more knowledge about microplastics.

This relates to engineering because there are many teams of people contributing to the creation of this boat and the technology behind the boat. They had to research the Mayflower and its path, get the parts, and find out how to assemble the pieces all together. In engineering, you have to work as a team sometimes, research, obtain parts, and piece it together.

https://interestingengineering.com/a-fully-autonomous-ship-will-set-sail-across-the-atlantic-ocean

Read more about the boat in the link above.