Successful first trial of unmanned boating

At the foot of the IJzer Tower in Diksmuide, the autonomous vessel ‘de Cogge’ brought its first trial run to a successful conclusion. KU Leuven’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, led by Professor Peter Slaets, tested a scale model (1/8) of a water truck+ barge. It is equipped with a propulsion system where the boat makes metres by sucking water in and then pushing it back out. The vessel is named after Karel Cogge, one of Nieuwpoort’s lock keepers who flooded the IJzer plain in 1914, halting the German advance.