Using Robotics to Achieve Ocean Sustainability During the Exploration Phase of Deep Seabed Mining

Abstract Oceans have been a source of food and resources for life on Earth even before the advent of civilization. In recent years, reliance on the oceans has increased due to an increasing population on land, which has resulted in unabated and unsustainable ocean exploitation. While the oceans have been resilient so far and have allowed numerous misadventures of humanity, they have reached a tipping point in their resilience due to the extensive use of unsustainable means. One such area of exploitation is “deep seabed mining,” for which numerous studies have shown the expected impact on ocean life and the environment to be catastrophic. It is expected that the resulting impact can be substantially reduced by avoiding direct interaction of humans with the environment. This understanding has led to the development of numerous technologies in the field of robotics and autonomous vehicles.This technical note thus assesses the current and future use of robotics and autonomous underwater vehicles to achieve sustainability during the exploration phase of deep seabed mining.