Robotic ships are the stuff of science fiction and the United States Navy. In 2016, the Navy christened Sea Hunter, a 132-foot-long, fully autonomous vessel designed to patrol the ocean and look for submarines lurking beneath the surface. Sea Hunter is the culmination of a six-year-long project by DARPA and the Office of Naval Research to make a ship that can do a job all on its own, reporting back to human controllers without any onboard crew. If Sea Hunter was the proof of concept, Rolls-Royce wants to transform unmanned ships from a single novelty into a major part of navies around the world. Rolls-Royce (not the car company) released a concept for an autonomous naval vessel last week, one that would be powered by Rolls-Royce engines and controlled by its own systems.

Engineers are harnessing'swarm robotics' to teach intelligent robots how to cooperate during naval missions. The researchers in Portugal have demonstrated how a small fleet of self-learning robot boats can'think' for themselves, to work together on surveillance and other missions. Each robot is made from materials costing roughly $330, and operates with a neural network to create individual behaviours similar to those in a flock of birds. Engineers are harnessing'swarm robotics' to teach intelligent robots how to cooperate during naval missions. The researchers in Portugal have demonstrated how a small fleet of self-learning robot boats can'think' for themselves, to work together The robotic swarms work like a school of fish, or flock of birds.