(With video) At the World Port Days 2015 in Rotterdam, Imtech Marine has signed an agreement to continue its Energy & Automation Lab at the RDM Innovation Dock.
The Imtech Marine Energy & Automation Lab is part of the RDM Innovation Dock, a collaboration with among others the University of Rotterdam. At this location, talented technical students work on innovative maritime technologies. In addition, the lab also functions as a showpiece that may inspire young people to choose a maritime career.
Smart Energy Systems Demonstrator
A new future-oriented project is the construction of a Smart Energy Systems Demonstrator. This demonstrator will show a fully adjustable, and safe, energy distribution network that is based on direct current (DC). The Smart Energy Systems Demonstrator ensures a better overview of all the energy generation and distribution on board through a newly designed human-machine interface. The result is an advice for the ship's crew which will improve efficient and economic sailing.
Aquabots
One of the previous projects was Aquabots; a race between two student teams with scale boats that sailed completely autonomous and emission-free. Students also built two underwater robots. These open source robots, part of the Knowledge Centre RDM, were built based on OpenROV and are taking part in underwater soil research. Due to this success, there will be a demonstration in collaboration with the Dutch Government, planned for February 2016.
Below a video on the contract signing and the work done so far on the Aquabots (in Dutch, but with English subtitles).
Picture: The RDM Campus (by M.M. Minderhoud)
