Question: would the drone pollute the sea if it crashed

Tom Rooney answered on 16 Mar 2016:

Yes it would not be great if a robot was not recovered if it crashed or sank. I am not 100% sure, but I would think the batteries would be the part that would cause most pollution if they we cracked and leaking into the sea. Usually people go to great efforts to retrieve lost or broken robots, usually with divers or remote control robots (ROVs). Although there is research in my lab to make robots that can bio-degrade with no harmful by products, and I know of another robot project to make a robot that contains only non toxic and parts.