MBARI Benthic Rover travels across seafloor to monitor impact of climate change

This robot, the Benthic Rover, spent most of July 2009 traveling across the muddy ocean bottom, 900 meters below the surface and about 40 kilometers (25 miles) offshore of the California coast. About the size and weight of a small compact car, the Benthic Rover moves very slowly across the seafloor, taking photographs of the animals and sediment in its path. Every three to five meters (10 to 16 feet) the Rover stops and makes a series of measurements on the community of organisms living in the seafloor sedi