Cool in principle. But in another more-informative article (posted on HN) they mention each boat has sailors monitoring their activity 1-on-1 to prevent tragedies (firing on civilians with the on-board 50-cal gun). So its no savings in manpower to use so-called autonomous boats.<p>And then what about mission capabilities? How can a robot boat board another vessel? What CAN it do? The ariticle says: form a 'line' between that boat and your high-value ship. For what purpose?<p>Compare another approach: smaller high-speed 1-2 meter robot torpedo boats. They can approach stealthier, perhaps go faster (hydrofoil?) and disable a combatant by exploding, ramming or shooting. They'd be far, far cheaper than a standard patrol boat converted to automatic control. And instantly deployable by launching over the side.