I take "Bob" along when I go sailing out of Redondo Beach, California, USA. I toss Bob overboard and he sinks to the sea floor. This version of Bob can handle 750 m (2460 feet). Once there, Bob hangs out a while taking pictures and video. Every few minutes, Bob fires his thruster and hops to a slightly new location. After a preset time, he drops his ballast, rises and Bobs on the surface, waiting for me to sail over and pull him aboard.

One goal is to sample the Redondo Canyon, from near shore to the mouth at ~650 m depth. So far, this version of Bob has been down at 4 stations between 540 ft/165 m to 1,320 ft/402 m.  A second goal is to to dive on a methane seep - a place where methane bubbles up through the sea floor and chemosynthetic organisms may live. Although the probable seep was identified in a remote survey, it is not clear that other ROVs or AUVs have been to this particular place before.