Solar-powered robot goes deep to keep water safe

Next time you're tooling around the ocean on your SeaDoo, you may run across more than just needles, raw sewage, and creepy men in Speedos. On September 16, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor Arthur Sanderson (no relation to the defunct accounting firm) and his team will unveil an autonomous, solar-powered, underwater robot at a National Science Foundation robotics workshop. The hope is that someday these mechanized monsters will be deployed along entire coastlines, monitoring water quality and aquatic activity. With a max speed of 2 mph it's no speed demon, but who needs quickness when you're chilling out 500 meters below the surface?

[Via The Raw Feed]