Andy Stanford-Clark Photo: Supplied
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) is a grass-roots initiative lead by the marine research non-profit organisation ProMare and backed by IBM.
The MAS spends months at sea collecting data and providing information on issues such as global warming, pollution and marine mammal conservation.
The autonomous ship is now preparing for its big expedition - it will launch from Plymouth in the UK and trace the passage of the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts, spending six months gathering data about the state of the ocean.
Andy Stanford-Clark is chief technology officer for IBM in the UK.
