North Bay’s Raymond Belec is back with a second-place finish, after competing at the 16th annual SailBot International Robotic Sailing Regatta in Amesbury, Massachusetts.
From June 2 to the 7, Belec put his handmade two-metre-long boat up against eight other high school and university teams from across North America and Europe.
“Universities from all around the world are allowed to enter their third-year and fourth-year university students. They’re allowed to build and enter a robotic boat into this regatta,” explained Belec who is currently working on his Bachelor of Technology degree at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Each day was a different competition.
Out of all his challenges, Belec found the endurance race was the toughest.
“We like to get close to the racing boats with our radios, so we don’t lose communication and crash into each other. I shared a large boat with another team, but that didn’t work at all, so they took me ashore and my two-metre boat started going off somewhere. I got a kayak, and I followed my boat in that. It was a lot of work trying to keep up with my boat with all the rowing. That was the endurance race, and I was on the water for five hours, so that was probably my biggest day for sure. I came in second with that one.”
Belec put North Bay on the map, consistently finishing in second or third place in the water challenges.
“I’m really proud of my overall second-place finish. It was a lot of work. Some nights I was up until three in the morning fixing the boat, doing things to improve it, and then going out at nine o’clock the next morning and racing, so it was challenging but well worth it. I really enjoyed all the people I got to meet.”
A fourth-year university student and wounded Canadian Armed Forces veteran, Belec spent six weeks building his boat, which started as two pieces of cedar strip lumber, 10 feet long.
Belec drew from his many years working on larger boats after leaving the military.
“The boat is a fully autonomous robotic vessel that uses flight technology from a drone. So, it is essentially drone technology that is put into a sailboat,” Belec shared.
“For me, this has been incredible. It was an amazing experience, being able to collaborate with the experts who were down there. One of the experts was a naval architect who was the commodore of the US Navy Academy before he retired,” stated Belec.
In addition to the daily water challenges, teams made oral presentations about their project to judges.
“They were pretty much blown away. I didn’t get a high score, but they were really amazed at how much collaboration I used with AI to build this thing, so that was exciting. And the other students just loved it.”
Belec shared the judge’s comment on his boat named Prometheus.
“One of the most unique presentations ever heard. Using the AI to design/guide/produce was insightful and thought-provoking. Impressive output for the constrained project duration and given your technical background. The cleverness of using a crowd-sourced, low-risk solution paid off given the time crunch, bringing some of your knowledge to balance the inaccuracies and inability of AI.”
While at the regatta, Belec shared with others the difficulty he was having finding a research supervisor.
“That’s because the topic of autonomous vehicles and AI is so new to the profs at my school. So, I was talking to the prof who supervises the winning team, and he agreed to supervise me, but he wants to see a research proposal first. So, that was kind of a cool outcome that I didn’t expect. I’d love to publish what I’ve done, but to be taken seriously, you do need a degree and you do need a supervisor who understands your technology. So, we’ll see where that leads.”
Based on his performance in Massachusetts, Belec returned home proud of his accomplishments and the wounded veterans who helped him on the project.
He also credited Veterans Affairs, for supporting his return to university.
“I am super proud. It really is a testament to what Veterans Affairs can do with people who are injured from military service. You have an opportunity to move ahead, and I think that’s brilliant,” Belec stated.
“And I get a chance to inspire others, that is what is really important, having young people look at this technology and saying they can do that.”
This year’s winning team hails from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a private research university based out of Worcester, Massachusetts, which is close to this year’s host city Amesbury.
Traditionally the first-place team has the option to host the following year’s competition.
“A lot of the teams I spoke to really want to see it go to Canada, but Worcester has to relinquish it first. So, they have to say they don’t want to sponsor it, so the second-place team then gets dibs on it,” Belec explained.
This means North Bay may be in line to host next year's event.
Belec is being proactive in trying to secure North Bay as the next host city.
“We’re just waiting for their decision. You need a community to back you when you’re doing this type of thing. What I am planning on doing is drafting a proposal ahead of time. I always found being proactive is better than being reactive, so then the committee has options at that point.”
His next challenge is to get a signed paddle to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I promised the other teams that if they signed my paddle, I would try to figure out how to get it to him.”
Just today Belec got a surprise message. "Anthony Rota’s people just reached out and the PMO asked if I was OK with travelling to Ottawa."
From the 22 to the 27 of June, Belec will be at the Royal Ontario Yacht Club in Toronto, sharing his experiences.
“I will be at a Wounded Warrior event put on by Soldier On. I will be giving a presentation on this experience. They will also be sailing laser sailboats, and cruising around Toronto Harbour, so that should be a really fun event. I get to connect with other wounded warriors and help inspire them, I hope.”