We talk a lot about drones, or UAVs--Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. But there are AUVs out there as well--Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.
And unlike the flying drones, the AUVs do not require pilots guiding them remotely, they are truly autonomous.
The Seaglider program at the University of Washington sends out AUVs to gather data from the ocean. Once programmed and launched, they can be gone for weeks at a time, periodically collecting and sending information. Dr. Fritz Stahr at UW's Seaglider Fabrication Center joins us to explain how the gliders work.