Building a Resilient Business: Lessons From an Autonomous Ship
October 7, 2020
By Eric Aquaronne No matter what the sector or geography, success increasingly depends on the resilience to survive and thrive in the face of external disruption.
1. Intelligence
IBM’s computer vision technology deciphers images streaming in from the ship’s six on-board video cameras. Trained on millions of maritime images gathered by the ship maker since 2017, this vigilant AI-powered system is now able to recognise a wide range of threats in the vicinity of the ship—whether physical outcroppings of land, floating debris, marine life, other vessels or various other potential perils.
2. Autonomy
With no humans onboard, MAS must be able to operate independently—even in the middle of the ocean with limited or no network connectivity. To do so, MAS is equipped with Level-5 automation, so it can act safely with no human intervention.
Key to this is IBM’s decision automation system.
3. Agility
Its three-hulled, trimaran form ensures high levels of hydro- and aero-dynamics. Waterproof photovoltaic panels fitted to its upper surface enable it to draw on energy from the sun when available, with a modern, high-efficiency generator acting as backup in case solar power is low in supply.
The ship has high levels of redundancy built into it, meaning that its systems are both isolated and duplicated in order to reduce to chance of a single-point failure.
Lessons for Business
MAS is just one small ship in a large ocean, but it serves as a case study for business resilience and continuity. Fortunately, the business intelligence technologies used on MAS are tried and tested enterprise solutions that are already available to organizations of all shapes and sizes.
Oct 10, 2020 at 02:41
