In a demonstration conducted this fall in the lower Chesapeake Bay, a fleet of small, human-free boats collectively patrolled a harbor, detected intruders, and even chased them away from the area they were protecting ... The new exercise highlighted the progress the vessels have made: expanding their coverage area, collaborating on strategy, improving tactical maneuvering, and getting better at spotting hostile parties.

Autonomous vehicles have infiltrated much of the military, from airborne surveillance to all manner of ground-based operations. But the Navy remains a mostly human-controlled operation--with the demand for robotic tech focused on conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it simply hasn't trickled down to aquatic operations yet. But the Office of Naval Research thinks autonomous boats can have a major impact on the military's ocean-going efficiency and effectiveness. In a demonstration conducted this fall in the lower Chesapeake Bay, a fleet of small, human-free boats collectively patrolled a harbor, detected intruders, and even chased them away from the area they were protecting. The Navy first demonstrated the swarm in 2014, when the vessels were tasked with protecting a single ship.