AUT’s applied ecology director Steve Pointing joined Ali Mau to discuss the X Prize.
Shell is sponsoring a new X Prize, challenging teams to map sections of the sea floor using autonomous robots.
The competition will challenge teams to map a 4km-deep, 500-sq-km area of sea floor using autonomous robots.
The award, which is valued at US$7m, will have to be claimed before the end of 2018.
Previous ocean incentives put up by the X Prize organisation have helped develop oil clean-up solutions and sensors to monitor ocean acidification.
More than 90% of the sea floor remains unmapped.
Watch the video for the full interview with Steve Pointing.
