Underwater Robot Tracks Endangered Sea Turtles — mashable.com

For the first time ever, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) scientists have tracked endangered sea turtles remotely — using an underwater robot. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) uses side-scan sonar technology to detect the creatures swimming and resting on the sea floor at a known turtle hotspot near North Carolina. “This is the very first time that we used our AUVs to look for living creatures,” says Rob Downs, AUV project manager at NOAA's Office of Coastal Survey. His team used the devices to inspect damage in Texas after Hurricane Ike, as well as checking for navigational obstructions at a naval air station in Jackson Hole, Fla. and searching for debris in a Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

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