More than 70% of the earth is covered by the ocean. The ocean possesses enormous living resources and minerals, has huge reserves of energy and space which can contribute to future socio-economic activities, affects climate and weather, and is home to earthquakes and tsunamis. However, little effort has been made to utilize or protect this vast resource, compared to space or terrestrial programs.

During the last few years, the use of underwater robotic vehicles has rapidly increased since such a vehicle can be operated in the deeper and riskier areas that divers cannot reach. Among potential applications of such vehicles are fishery, underwater pollution monitoring, and waste cleaning & handling in the ocean as well as nuclear sites.

The Underwater Robotics technical committee supports various activites such as organizing technical sessions and workshops in the subject area, which will promote underwater robotic technologies and increase interaction and collaboration among researchers and developers in various areas supported by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.