 One of the first unmanned deep sea vehicles was developed by the University of California with a grant from the Allan Hancock Foundation in the early 1950s to develop a more economical method of taking photos miles under the sea with an unmanned steel high-pressure sphere called a benthograph, which contained a camera and strobe light.The original benthograph built by USC was very successful in taking a series of underwater photos until it became wedged between some rocks and could not be retrieved.Remote operated vehicles (ROVs) are also seeing increasing use in underwater exploration.