Page 12: of Marine Technology Magazine (July 2011)

12MTRJuly/August 2011 standard battery is the largest stan- dard lithium ion pack you can ship on an aircraft. The foils are designed for maximum reliability and redun- dancy, allowing for multiple years at sea. And its designed to handle very large waves; weve been through almost 30 ft. waves, so we know we can be quite survivable. The ocean is a bit more challenging for computers than on land.Vass: The ocean tears everything up; especially when you combine salt water, electronics with metal together in the ocean, its a terrible combina- tion. And then making vehicles that can be self-aware and avoid obstacles on their own, avoid other ships on their own, while theyre on these long missions, can be quite a challenge aswell. Weve got a fleet of robots that we run continuously at sea. And if the robots operate outside your parame- ters they literally text you on your phone and tell you to take a look at them. So where are your vehicles operating today?Vass: I live on the ocean in California, and when I get up in the morningand look out the window, I think about all the robots we have out there, doing their thing, thousands of miles out at sea, in the Gulf of Mexico, and Hawaii, and a lot of other places we cant talk about. Its profile The thing I really like is that Roger (Hine) is an artist ... its just an artfully designed system.? Bill Vass, CEO, Liquid Robotics