Mooring robot

A method of operating a mooring system for driving a ship in a longitudinal direction to reposition it along the dock, including the steps:

• a) providing a mooring system including;
• i. at least four mooring robots for releasably fastening a moored vessel to a dock or to a second vessel, each mooring robot including:
• an attractive attachment element releasably engageable with a surface for fastening the moored vessel;
• a substantially vertical elongate guide to which the attachment element is slidably fixed, for raising and lowering the attachment element;
• a substantially horizontal track to which the attractive attachment is slidably fixed, the horizontal track being aligned parallel with a longitudinal axis of the moored vessel for fore and aft movement of the attachment element;
• a parallel arm linkage having two parallel arms each pivoted about respective axes which are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the moored vessel for extending and retracting the attachment element in a transverse direction, the parallel arms being pivotably fixed to the vertical guide;
• and
• respective powered actuating means for movement of the attachment element in the vertical, longitudinal and transverse directions;
• and
• ii. at least one remote controller wherein the operation of each mooring robot is controlled by at least one of the remote controllers wherein four mooring robots are mounted to a dock in two pairs;
• b) determining a desired distance and direction in which the ship is to be moved longitudinally;
• c) for each mooring robot in turn, sequentially detaching the attachment element from the hull, moving the attachment element to its extent of longitudinal travel in a direction opposite to the desired direction and then reattaching the attachment element;
• d) driving each attachment element in the desired direction;
• and
• e) repeating step c) and d) until the desired position is reached.