engineering

The Microtransat Challenge

The Microtransat Challenge is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Microtransat Challenge rather than just read about it. In short: The Microtransat Challenge is a competition to design and build a sailboat under 2.4 meters in length capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean without human interaction. There are two classes, sailing and non-sailing, and two divisions, autonomous, which does not allow any human interaction with the boat, and uncrewed, which allows any data including a change of course to be sent to the boat.

Key takeaways

The Microtransat Challenge belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Microtransat Challenge to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Microtransat Challenge from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Microtransat Challenge is a competition to design and build a sailboat under 2.4 meters in length capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean without human interaction. There are two classes, sailing and non-sailing, and two divisions, autonomous, which does not allow any human interaction with the boat, and uncrewed, which allows any data including a change of course to be sent to the boat. The challenge was originally conceived in 2005 by Mark Neal of Aberystwyth University and Yves Briere of ISAE. The first attempt was made on September 11, 2010, by Pinta from Aberystwyth University. According to the organizers, the goal of the challenge is to contribute to ocean-monitoring platforms, as well as provide a learning opportunity. There have been more than 30 attempts; all but one have ended in failure. The challenge requires entries to use one of two predefined sets of end points. The first is to sail between a start line off the coast of Great Britain and a finish between the Bahamas and Florida, whilst the second is from a start line off the east coast of North America and a finish line on the west coast of Ireland. Competitors can begin whenever they wish, but rules specify that boats should report their position to competition organizers at least once every six hours. In 2018, SB Met, built by Norwegian company Offshore Sensing AS, became the first and only vehicle to complete the Microtransat Challenge, as well as the first unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The vehicle was deployed from Newfoundland on June 7, 2018, and arrived off the coast of Ireland 79 days later, on August 26, 2018.

References

External resources The Microtransat Challenge (website) Snoopy's GPS Guided Trans-Atlantic Robot Boat Team Joker Autonomous Åland University Sailing Robots University of Ljubljana Microtransat Challenge

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Microtransat Challenge

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Microtransat Challenge claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Microtransat Challenge before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Microtransat Challenge ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Microtransat Challenge

In research: The Microtransat Challenge appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Microtransat Challenge in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Microtransat Challenge is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Recurring events established in 2006, Robotic sailing competitions, Robotics stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Microtransat Challenge outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Microtransat Challenge in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Microtransat Challenge means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Microtransat Challenge out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Microtransat Challenge in simple terms?

Why does The Microtransat Challenge matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Microtransat Challenge?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Microtransat Challenge.