We have just taken another momentous step in the journey to unveil the hidden wonders of our own planet! Since the launch of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco in December 2015, individuals from around the world have been racing to form Teams and develop a range of groundbreaking technologies to access the deep-sea. Registration closed at the end of September 2016 with 32 bold Teams stepping forward to take on the challenge of mapping and imaging our ocean as never before. Today, we announce the 21 semi-finalists Teams advancing in the Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. These innovative semi-finalist Teams, consisting of almost 350 individuals from 25 countries, represent a broad, impressive diversity of backgrounds and expertise, including middle and high school students, university students, maker-movement enthusiasts, and water and ocean industry professionals.

The XPrize Foundation has named 21 semifinalists for its $7 million Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize contest to advance technologies for deep water exploration, including San Diego's Orca Robotics. The semifinalists were announced at the Catch the Next Wave conference in San Diego on Thursday, with teams from 13 countries making the cut. Several teams affiliated with U.S. universities are among the semifinalists, including Duke, Rutgers, Texas A&M, Lehigh University, Virginia Tech and Old Dominion. "These semifinalist teams are on the cutting-edge, pushing the boundaries in developing deep-sea underwater technologies that will work in the lightless, cold depths to fully map one of our world's final frontiers like never before," said Jyotika Virmani, who is overseeing the contest as head of XPrize's Energy and Environment Group. Teams have tapped technologies ranging from underwater gliders to robotic swarms and autonomous vehicles.