What a year 2020 has been. As it comes to an end, we're choosing to reflect on our progress rather than all that made this year so trying. MarkSetBot continued to grow. We reached our 100th club. We were selected as a finalist for the World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award. We introduced the world to our next-level tech, RaceOS. We continued to build our dealer network. And we helped clubs and organizations around the world run safe, socially distanced regattas.
Here's a look back at the Bot's 2020:
And many more regattas around the world!
100 Club Milestone
In July, we reached our 100th club! We're proud to say our Bots have been used by more than 100 unique clubs and organizations around the world.
In October, we introduced RaceOS, our newest race course technology.
RaceOS is complete course automation. Self-setting race courses with wind shift adjustments, sequence and course change signals, start and finish detection with automatic scoring, all fully controlled by the MarkSetBot engine. RaceOS pairs MarkSetBots with tracking, a horn system and a wind instrument, and gathers all of the data together to autonomously run the race. RaceOS can handle every part of race management or can provide you with data and equipment to set outstanding courses.
With levels of automation, RaceOS fits every race management scenario.
In October, we ran the world’s first fully automated regatta with RaceOS.
How did we do it? With one click in the MarkSetBot app, three MarkSetBots left the club and set the windward-leeward course using wind data collected by one of the Bots. With the course set, the Bots notified sailors to the start of the race. Using trackers on each boat, the Bots detected OCS penalties and alerted racers via horns and smartphone or smartwatch notifications. After all boats were cleared, the starting line Bots adjusted to become leeward gates and ultimately a finish line. Throughout the race, the Bots collected wind data and adjustments were made to keep the course square. As racers approached the finish, the Bots sounded a horn for the first to finish boat, recorded finish times, and uploaded racing results. No race volunteers, motor boats, anchors, or fuel were needed to run this regatta. It had zero impact on the environment, and every race was perfectly square to the wind.
In November, MarkSetBot was named a finalist for the World Sailing 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award!
The award showcases the depth of global sustainability initiatives within the marine industry.
In reducing the fossil fuel burning power boats needed to set a race course, eliminating seabed-destructive anchors and drastically decreasing the number of people required for regatta management, MarkSetBot delivers proven, significant environmental improvements. Our latest innovation, RaceOS, takes our sustainability vision even further.
We're so proud to be a 2020 finalist. Thank you to everyone who voted for us!
MSB Product Updates
We’re always improving! Here are a few highlights from the year:
- Topsides: We released our new topsides which are adjustable based on wind conditions
- GPS: Our next-gen GPS chip was released with increased accuracy and triple constellation redundancy
- International data: We started supporting worldwide roaming on all Bots for no additional fee
- The SuperBot: This year, we began prototype testing of a supersized Bot in partnership with SailGP