National Geographic
BEN.
- University of New Hampshire's autonomous boat, Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator (BEN), finds lost shipwrecks.
- BEN maps the ocean floor in spots that are too shallow or dangerous for divers or traditional ships.
- BEN has also been involved in the search to find what happened to Amelia Earhart.
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This bright yellow autonomous boat might be the key to unlocking the ocean's secrets. Built by researchers at the University of New Hampshire, the Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator is more affectionately called BEN.
The self-driving boat is used to map the ocean floor, and can assist crews in finding long-lost wrecks, like the famous Ohio in Lake Huron, as The Verge reported. BEN has been involved in other recent searches, and mapping the ocean floor can help improve understanding of the ocean and climate in other ways, too.
Here's what BEN looks like.