Robot powered boats are nothing new. We have covered a few of them in the past. Dave’s Armoury had a different approach. He used PiPER robot arms that have 6 joint motors for smooth movement. They can handle 1.5kg payload capacity each. These arms have 626mm max reach. These bots are great for pick & place tasks. To mount them on the canoe, he used lightweight aluminum extrusions.
The above video shows how he pulled it off. This is an ROS based solution. You can find out more here.