P-Controller as an Expert System for Manoeuvring Rudderless Sail Boats

Abstract

Sailing robots provide a useful platform for investigations into autonomous robotics. Typically, sail boats involve one or more sails and a rudder. Recently, a two fixed-sail boat with no rudder has been proposed. In this paper, a P-controller is proposed for the control of this sail boat. It is shown that the heading of the boat can be controlled using this simple controller, where the update rate is an important factor. Upon this basis, extensions for increasing the fault tolerance of the system are discussed as a means of increasing the autonomy of the sail boat-an important aim in the use of sail boats as autonomous marine research platforms. I.