Submarine Drone Lets Pilots Play Cousteau Without Getting Wet

SANTA CRUZ (KPIX 5) -- Drones gave us the gift of flying, allowing us to see what it would look like to soar through the air like a bird.

So, it's not altogether surprising that companies would eventually look to adapt the technology to let us swim with the fishes.

Blueye Robotics founder & CEO Erik Dyrkoren says, "What we provide here is modern technology -- a modern, underwater camera, modern battery technology -- and combine all that into a new kind of underwater vehicle that we call an underwater drone."

Blueye Robotics is a Norwegian company developing underwater drones that Dyrkoren hopes  will someday become as popular as its aerial counterparts.

Blueye chief global strategist Christine Spiten said, "With an underwater drone, you're entering a whole new part of the world that was only open to professional divers, until now."

Their underwater drone can descend 500 feet below the surface and features a powerful, on-board light so you can record video in what otherwise would be total darkness.

"You don't know what you're going to see down there, right? It's constantly changing. There's species of animals you've probably never seen before. There's shipwrecks," Spiten said. "And I think that's the most exciting part about it."

Blueye is accepting pre-orders of its underwater drone. The cost is about $3,500.