Unmanned robot ship adrift off Nova Scotia's coast

If robots had feelings, Solar Voyagerwould be the saddest.

The four-metrealuminum boat left Massachusetts June 1 tobegin a transatlantic journey to Lisbon, Portugal.

Solar Voyager undertookthe trek alone, navigating autonomously with no crew on board.

"To anthropomorphise it, it's a very lonely journey," said Isaac Penny, one of the engineers who has spent four yearsbuildingSolar Voyager.

The boat made it approximately 1,000 kilometres up the coast when it became caught in fishing equipment.

"It's basically gotten,well, we believe it's gotten tangled in a net off the coast of Nova Scotia," said Penny.

The engineering team can use a satellite signal to sendSolar Voyager waypoints to head towards, but the boat chooses how to navigate. The teamcan't directly control the boat.

Solar Voyager automatically updatesits location online via a satellite link every 15 minutes.

Penny said they designed the propellers to not snag fishing lines and to reverse direction if they do get stuck. He said the net is wrapped around one propeller and has jammed the rudder to one side.

The world's first autonomous transatlantic crossing now appears to be on hold.

"We've temporarily shut it down for 12 hours to let it drift a little bit closer to shore,"Penny said.

Solar Voyager isapproximate 160 kilometres from Sable Island, adrift in ocean currents.

Penny is currently in Singapore and unable to go rescue the boat. He said he hopes someone in the area might be able to track down and cut the robot free from the nets.

"Hopefully a fisherman can divert on the way out or on the way back," he said.

This journey would have been the first autonomous transatlantic crossing, but alsothe first solar-powered one, too.

It's a very lonely journey.- Isaac Penny, Solar Voyager's co-creator

"Not only is it more environmentally friendly, it also gives you, in theory, unlimited range and unlimited endurance," Penny said.

He said autonomous solar-powered shipping could revolutionize the industry in the decades ahead. It could offeropportunities to reduce the size of crews needed to operate ships.

"It's not just an alternative form of energy," Penny said,"in this case it may be the best one."

Any benevolent boater interested in an impromptu robot rescuecan contact the team at thesolarvoyager@gmail.com.