Apparently, one of the biggest pains when it comes to doing research with underwater robots is that, like people, they need to come to the surface pretty frequently. Not to breathe, of course, but to communicate with human wranglers. Not the Robofish.

The Robofish was developed by University of Washington researchers and can work cooperatively with each other and not surface til its finished with its job. Using fins rather than propellers, the Robofish looks downright fishlike, hence the name. In theory groups of the Robofish could be used to trail moving targets such as groups of whales underwater or explore underwater caves.

UW News, via New Launches