Through Robot Eyes

Just as the Mars Rovers are our eyes on another planet, underwater robots are our eyes into Earth’s deep ocean. Remotely operated ocean vehicles (ROV) operated from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer collect digital imagery of deep ocean habitats. Site characterization is a key element in such investigations. It depends heavily upon the ability of underwater robots to obtain images that can be used to identify living organisms and geological features. As digital imaging technology continues to improve, views through these robot eyes are beautiful and fascinating. The following activities will acquaint learners with some techniques for analyzing images obtained with underwater robots. Activities include manual analysis with printed image and ruler as well as computer image processing with ImageJ software to measure length, distance from camera, and area of deep ocean habitués.

More Lessons From the Sky is pleased to spotlight this lesson from The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection for Grades 5-12, Volume 2: How Do We Explore? published by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. The original lesson plan is available for download in PDF from this address: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/edu/collection/media/vol2_hdwe.pdf.

Next Generation Science Standards addressed in this lesson:
    HS-PS4-5     HS-LS4-5