The Field of ocean robotics has begun borrowing blue prints from the world’s best engineering firm: Mother Nature. Robo-tuna cruise the ocean on Surveillance missions; sea snake-inspired marine robots inspect pipes on offshore of rigs; 1.400 pound robotic crabs collect new data on the seafloor; and robo-jellyfish are under development to carry out environmental monitoring That ocean species are models for ocean problem•solving is no surprise given that these animals are the result of millions of years of trial and error.
Our fate is inextricably linked to the fate of the oceans. Technological innovation on land has helped us immeasurably to clean up polluting industries, promote sustainable economic growth, and intelligently watch over changes in terrestrial ecosystems. We now need ocean tech to do the same under the sea. As the marine industrial revolution advances, we will need to lean heavily on innovation, ingenuity and disruptive tech to successfully take more from the ocean while simultaneously damaging them less.