March 15, 2012 10:47 pm EDT

Swimming robots break wave-powered distance record, don't even stop for high-fives

Remember those autonomous sea-faring robots we saw back in November? Well, it looks like their self-propelling paddles have slowly waded them into the record books. The bots have traveled a distance of 3,200 nautical miles (2,876 land miles), cutting the previous record of 2,500 adrift -- not bad considering there's no fuel involved. The quartet of data-hunting droids initially set off from San Francisco, before completing the first leg of their journey in Hawaii four months later. The quadrumvirate are now set to split, with two heading off to Japan, crossing the Mariana Trench (believed to be the deepest place on earth) while the other pair head south to Australia, with both duos aiming to reach their final destinations later this year.

Swimming robots break wave-powered distance record, don't even stop for high-fives originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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