Sir Francis Chichester, Robin Knox-Johnston, Dame Ellen McArthur and other great names from the history of sailing could be joined this year by Pinta the robot.

The unmanned boat is undergoing final preparations before setting sail in the hope of becoming the first robot to cross an ocean using the power of wind. By sailing non-stop and unassisted for an estimated three months it will prove the potential for robotic craft to undertake vital research in roles in dangerous and far-off waters.

Pinta has been designed by scientists at Aberystwyth University and will join seven other robotic craft in October in a race across the Atlantic. The race is intended to test the endurance and reliability of robots away from battery chargers and the predictable environment of a laboratory.

The boat is a smaller, cheaper version of a more elaborate robot sailing boat, Beagle B, and is being used to prove that the onboard technology works. If it manages to cross from the Portuguese coast to the Caribbean the scientists who built it hope to risk Beagle B, which cost £40,000, on a long-distance journey.

Beagle B will make its own history during the summer when it becomes the first robotic sailing boat to undertake a dolphin count in Cardigan Bay, West Wales.

Mark Neal, of Aberystwyth University, said: “This is the first time anybody has attempted to sail across any ocean with an automated boat. The big issue in robotics at the moment is longevity and flexibility in a complicated environment.

“Something that can survive for two to three months completely unassisted while doing something interesting is a major challenge. If it does get there I will be seriously cheerful. It will open up all the oceans to environmental monitoring by robots.”

A robotic sailing boat able to find its own way around the seas would be able to undertake sampling expeditions to collect data for scientists studying, among other topics, climate change, weather and the chemistry of the oceans.

Sensors would be able to measure the carbon dioxide content of the water, chlorophyl content, pollution, air pressure, air and sea temperatures, and wind speed. The data gathered would provide invaluable information to scientists, and events such as plankton blooms and oil spills could be tracked by the robots to monitor their progress.

Scientists are able to gather such information already but the robots would offer a much cheaper and more flexible option. And because no one is on board it would be easier to operate them in dangerous conditions.

The race across the Atlantic, which starts in October, pits Pinta against seven other robot craft from six countries. The boat uses solar panels to provide the power to operate a robot arm on the tiller and a pulley system to change the angle of the sail. Solar panels would provide too little power to run an engine and batteries would run out in days or hours.

Pinta will have a maximum speed of 4 knots but with a 2.5 knots average speed it is expected to take three months to reach a strait between Martinique and St Lucia. The 150kg craft is being used instead of Beagle B because it costs only £2,500.

Beagle B will spend a week in Cardigan Bay this summer counting dolphins. Water samples will be taken during the project to determine how polluted the waters are and the data will be analysed to discover whether dolphins hate polluted water as much as scientists believe.

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