What underwater robots might be able to tell us about India's monsoon

Seven swimming robots will take to the sea later this month to help scientists investigate unanswered questions about India's monsoon season. After departing from the southern port city of Chennai, researchers will spend a month at sea releasing the torpedo-shaped underwater robots across a 400-kilometer (250-mi.) The robots, which will navigate to a depth of 1,000 meters, are programmed to transmit data measuring water salinity, temperature, and current via satellite. Lead researcher Adrian Matthews describes the Indian monsoon as "notoriously hard to predict." "It is a very complicated weather system and the processes are not understood or recorded in science," Dr. Matthews said in a press release.