A fleet of unmanned, remotely piloted boats will be launched next year to help detect illegal vessels entering Australian waters. The ocean drones will patrol waters off the Top End in the Indian Ocean, with the technology to detect unauthorised vessels, alert authorities and then be piloted out to the vessel for further investigation.
Robert Dane, the chief executive of OCIUS, which developed the technology, said the idea was to create an ocean drone that could do the mundane or dangerous jobs currently carried out by by defence force personnel.
"Those jobs put people, our men and women in uniform in harm's way," Mr Dane said.
"A robot that is persistent and unmanned and does not need fuel or get bored, is ideally suited to do that dull and dangerous work."..MORE
