Newfoundland dogs are still practicing the same lifesaving skills they would have used in the 19th century. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. It's a dark and stormy night and you've suddenly found yourself swept off of your wooden vessel into the wild Atlantic Ocean. It's 1893, so your woolen clothes are pulling you down to Davy Jones' locker. What kind of dog would want to rescue you?

A robotic recreation of the 17th century Mayflower ship has finally completed a 3,500 journey across the Atlantic Ocean, in 40 days. Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) – a 50-foot-long autonomous research vessel piloted by artificial intelligence (AI) – arrived in Halifax, Canada on Sunday (June 5). MAS, which carried no humans on board and relied on artificial intelligence, had set sail from Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, England in the early hours of April 27. The ship was smooth sailing until the second week of May when a generator issue diverted it to Portugal's Azores islands so a team member could fly in to do repairs. During the latter stages of the journey the decision was made to head to Halifax – as opposed to Virginia as previously planned – due to more mechanical issues.

The hydrodynamic performance of a sea-going ship varies over its lifespan due to factors like marine fouling and the condition of the anti-fouling paint system. In order to accurately estimate the power demand and fuel consumption for a planned voyage, it is important to assess the hydrodynamic performance of the ship. The current work uses machine-learning (ML) methods to estimate the hydrodynamic performance of a ship using the onboard recorded in-service data. Three ML methods, NL-PCR, NL-PLSR and probabilistic ANN, are calibrated using the data from two sister ships. The calibrated models are used to extract the varying trend in ship's hydrodynamic performance over time and predict the change in performance through several propeller and hull cleaning events. The predicted change in performance is compared with the corresponding values estimated using the fouling friction coefficient ($\Delta C_F$). The ML methods are found to be performing well while modelling the hydrodynamic state variables of the ships with probabilistic ANN model performing the best, but the results from NL-PCR and NL-PLSR are not far behind, indicating that it may be possible to use simple methods to solve such problems with the help of domain knowledge.

An autonomous version of the historical Mayflower ship that's powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is set to make is maiden voyage across the Atlantic next month. On April 19, Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) will depart from Plymouth, England and arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts about 3,000 miles and two weeks later. The original ship, which transported 102 passengers known as the Pilgrims, took 10 weeks to reach its destination in the autumn of 1620. The new 50-foot ship, which won't carry any human passengers or even crew, will roughly take the same route as its predecessor. When they set sail from Plymouth, England, on September 16, 1620, the Pilgrims were escaping religious persecution and sought to establish a settlement in the New World.

The Mayflower is one-step closer to sailing from England to Plymouth – but this time it will be without a crew. Powered artificial intelligence, the autonomous ship is set to start trials in England and will be unveiled on September 16 in honor of the 400th anniversary the original vessel made its journey in 1620. The Mayflower will undergo several trips and missions over the next six months before it makes the more than 3,000 mile expedition across the Atlantic. The robot craft was set to embark on the journey next week, but has been delayed until April 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS), first revealed in 2017, is powered completely by reusable energy, mainly solar power, and made in partnership with University of Plymouth, autonomous craft specialists MSubs and public charity Promare which promotes marine research and exploration throughout the world.