An ocean tugboat named the Nelly Bly commanded by an autonomous system and remote operators is going on a 1,000-mile journey around Demark starting Sept. 30.

The voyage was announced today by Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics Inc., a global developer of autonomous systems for the maritime industry. Founded in 2015, Sea Machines develops autonomous sea vessel software systems that allow for increased safety, efficiency and performance of ships, workboats and commercial passenger vessels.

The voyage, named “Machine Odyssey,” will begin from Hamburg, Germany, with full onboard autonomous control provided by the Sea Machine SM300 system, while operating under the authority of commanding officers located in the United States. The journey is expected to take about 20 days.

The name of the voyage is a homage to Homer’s “The Odyssey,” a story that has continued to inspire humanity through the adventure of Ulysses’ and his crew’s courage by their own voyage of discovery and adventure. By putting the autonomy system and remote command – from 3,500 miles away in Boston – through a long-range journey, Sea Machines hopes to show the maritime industry at large what autonomous vessels can do.

“From time immemorial the oceans have driven the best of human innovation, designed and built by architects and engineers, and deployed by a select and special group of people, mariners, that much of society relies on today and evermore in the future for the supply of food, power, water, goods and transport,” said Michael Johnson, chief executive of Sea Machines.

Sea Machines told SiliconANGLE that at all times the Nelly Bly will have a minimum of three people on board. There are four captains who will rotate throughout the journey, all of whom are licensed and capable of taking control at any point.

“As a technology space leader, Sea Machines takes it as our duty to embark into new waters, motor through any and all fog of uncertainty, and prove the value within our planned technology course,” Johnson said.

Johnson and various members of Sea Machines will also be on the boat as crew. Since the journey is helmed by a robot and remotely commanded, the crew will have little to do but enjoy the ocean breeze and scenery most of the time.

From the Boston control room, Sea Machines engineers, and any authorized personnel with access to a computer, can look at the current map, refine the autonomous route, communicate and monitor operations.

Sea Machines will be streaming the journey live on a website dedicated to Machine Odyssey for all to access information with updates from the Nelly Bly, crew, command center and more.

Image: Sea Machines