`` For us the Microtransat challenge is the big goal . I 'm pretty confident we can do it . This week in testing it is pretty much doing what it 's supposed to do . And it is water tight . `` Over the last couple of days we tried some autonomous tacks and jibes and now we are testing the navigation , '' he said . See photos of the autonomous yacht from construction to launch '' The team has been working on the project since September 2008 , and are currently at the on-water testing stage , having designed and built the boat . While the team will be able to track the boat through an onboard global positioning system -LRB- GPS -RRB- during the transatlantic voyage , Erckens said as long as the challenge is active they wo n't have any control over the vessel . `` We will set it out and it will be completely autonomous . There are solar cells on the back for power and extra power supplies on board . `` There is a satellite communication system on board and the boat can download weather information by itself so it can
LONDON , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The designers behind a `` thinking '' yacht are hoping to break a world record by sending it across the Atlantic Ocean without any human assistance . The autonomous yacht Avalon is hoisted to have her keel put in place before launching The four-meter boat , `` Avalon '' , was designed and built by an eight-strong team of third-year engineering students at Swiss science university ETH Zurich . The students are planning to take the boat to a robotic sailing regatta in July , before launching it into the Microtransat Transatlantic challenge in early September . Using sensors to detect the speed and direction of the wind , the boat is programmed to reach a given co-ordinate and will attain it by automatically adapting to the changing conditions . One of the `` Students Sailing Autonomously '' -LRB- SSA -RRB- team 's project managers , Hendrik Erckens , told CNN that if the Atlantic crossing succeeds it will be a world record as an unmanned boat has not previously made the voyage . It is planned the crossing will begin from the west coast of Ireland and finish in the Caribbean .