Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise Receives Special Recognition

Thu, 01/05/2023 - 08:09am | By: Van Arnold

The University of Southern Mississippi’s Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise received special recognition in WorkBoat magazine’s Top 10 News Stories for 2022. The center was saluted for its partnership with Sea Machines Robotics in Boston to create USM’s Maritime Autonomy Operational Seminar.

The seminar, which held the first of its two-day classes in November, utilized Sea Machines Robotics SM 200 and SM 300 autonomous self-pilots with Sea Machines’ AI-ris computer vision to guide USM’s 49-foot Ken Barbour, an ex-patrol boat that is capable of fully autonomous operations.

“I don’t know of anyone else doing this. We think this is kind of a blueprint that can be done nationally,” said Dr. Jason McKenna, director of research, development, testing, and evaluation at the Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise.

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