An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (UAV) called the Slocum Glider has been under development for several years. The most unique aspect of the winged, torpedo-shaped, UAV is a thermal engine that draws energy from ocean thermoclines (the temperature differences between warm surface water and cooler deep water). The robots are designed to remain at sea for years, gathering data that previously required expensive, manned vessels. Pilot experiments using the Gliders have been done in Bermuda and Nantucket Shoals. Soon hundreds of Slocum Gliders will be dispersed throughout the worlds oceans, providing oceanographers with information of unprecedented quantity and quality.