They can go deep sea diving in Antarctica.

Mick West sits with Icefin, just before the robot was deployed the to the bottom of the ocean. (Photo: Jacob Buffo)

A team of scientists and engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology assembled an unmanned, underwater vehicle on Antarctica.

They deployed (and retrieved) the robot via a 12-inch diameter hole through 20 meters of ice and another 500 meters of water to the sea floor. The robotic vehicle, called Icefin, carried a scientific payload capable of measuring ocean conditions under the ice.

Icefin’s readings of the environment under Antarctica’s ice shelves, along with video of the life that thrives in these harsh conditions, will help us understand how Antarctica’s ice shelves are changing under warming conditions and how organisms thrive in cold and light-free environments.