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Scientists from the UC San Diego received $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant is meant to help the researchers create probably one of the most useful inventions - small robotic devices that would flow together with the ocean currents and study the mechanisms that maintain plankton and other small creatures of the ocean.

A large number of autonomous underwater explorers (AUE) are expected to provide useful information, more accurately studying the localized information on a number of factors such as currents, temperature, salinity and pressure, informs CleanTechnica. It is worth mentioning that these machines could one day be used to patrol and study protected marine regions and warn about potential hazards like oil spills.

These robots may become important inventions for studying the ocean also due to the fact that they make use of sustainable means of research, unlike ships that use fuel-powered equipment. In the first stage scientists will develop about half dozen of underwater devices that will be about the size of a soccer ball and 20 smaller models. An additional $1.5 million grant will be given to create the systems required to remotely control the device.