Giving Compass' Take:

• Fast Company reports on a company called OpenROV, which creates cheap robots that allow the average citizen to explore local waterways; documenting discoveries could help lead to greater conservation awareness.

• In what other ways can we combine technological innovation and community engagement to lead environmental protection efforts? How does open sourcing play into this field?

• Here's why funding the ocean is the next wave in philanthropy.

Since David Lang cofounded OpenROV, a low-cost underwater drone company, in 2012, thousands of citizen scientists and explorers have used the bots to explore things like starfish deaths in the Pacific Northwest, or where along the coast of Mexico Nassau grouper tended to spawn. That information launched bigger efforts to study, document, and ultimately try to protect those species and the places they live.

National Geographic liked idea so much they’re expanding it. Earlier this month, the company, in partnership with OpenROV and James Cameron’s Avatar Alliance Foundation announced the launch of the Science Exploration Education Initiative to donate 1,000 Trident drones to nonprofits, schools, and activists interested in documenting their adventures on Open Explorer, an online field journal that Lang also helped design. Open Explorer publicly maps where each project is located and lets groups post updates about observations there.

Trident drones can dive 100 meters deep while streaming video. The $1,5000 devices are typically piloted through a video game-style controller designed to fit around an Android tablet. “We have always been idealists in wanting to use technology to really help connect people to the natural world,” says Lang, who considers the ocean a place that most people don’t really understand or even know how to engage with. “[We’re] doing that not with a lecture on what’s important, but by giving people the thrill of exploration,” he adds.

Read the full article about underwater robots and ocean conservation by Ben Paynter at fastcompany.com.