NASA recently selected Deep Ocean Engineering, Inc. (DOE) in San Leandro, Ca., as the recipient of a Phase II contract in its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The award has a total value of $600,000 and duration of 24 months. The project involves research and development of a versatile apparatus and method for remote robot mobility. Bruce Caldwell, DOE’s Director of Engineering, is the project’s Principal Investigator. Key consultants include Dr. Phil Ballou at Ocean Systems Inc., and Edge Innovations, both located in Alameda, Ca. Robotics intended for exploration of extremely remote and harsh environments must be extraordinarily versatile as well as robust. They must be able to perform in and adapt to unknown and highly variable physical surroundings.