There are three robots that will be sent to collect ore from the ocean's floor — all with different jobs.
One chews through the metal-rich chimneys that collect as a result of super hot water coming out of sulfurous vents in the seafloor. The second robot will then come in and use its strength to pulverize rock walls. The third then feeds the crushed rock up a pipe that is dangling from the vessel the robots were sent out on.
The robots are being built by Soil Machine Dynamics, a manufacturer of subsea robotic vehicles, for Toronto-based company Nautilus Minerals, IEEE Spectrum first reported. Overall, very impressive machinery!