Benthic's "portable remotely operated drill", dubbed the Prod, is a 10-tonne subsea robot that sits on the seabed and is guided by an operator on a mother ship above.
It can function in up to 2500 metres of water, and is able to rotary drill rock and piston core ocean sediments to more than 100 metres.
Prod's founder Professor Peter Davies of the University of Sydney says he felt new technology was needed to guarantee high-quality samples of sub-surface rocks and sediments in deep-water exploration.
Davies
