One of the most endearing characteristics of robotics systems is they allow humans to explore harsh and dangerous environments. Thanks to robots' metal gears and hardy processing units, the human race has made scientific discoveries in places that were once thought unreachable.
According to USA Today, robots are now being used by a University of Southern Mississippi team to explore the Ross Sea in Antarctica. The robots brave the frigid waters and go where humans cannot, including underneath the thick sea ice.
The robotics team is using two Seaglider robots, which became famous in 2010 when the model was charged with exploring the undersea site of the Gulf oil spill disaster, reports the news source. Now, the robots are being used to collect data about the little known Antarctic sea.
"The beauty of the gliders is they can collect data for days without any human help," Walker Smith, team member with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, told the media organization.
Robots are quite the oceanographers. Recently, autonomous undersea machines were used by the Dutch navy to find a sunken German U-boat off the coast of the Netherlands, reports the Boston Globe.
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