JUST AS NASA USED THE REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLES (ROVS) SPIRIT AND OPPORTUNITY TO GATHER AND RELAY INFORMATION THAT CONTINUES TO BROADEN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MARS, WE WILL DEVELOP ROVS THAT WILL TRANSFORM OUR KNOWLEDGE OF RUMEN BIOLOGY AND FERMENTATION CHEMISTRY, WITH BACKING FROM USDA. THE RUMEN IS ONE OF THE PRIMARY DIGESTIVE CHAMBERS IN THE STOMACH OF A RUMINANT ANIMAL, SUCH AS A COW. ALTHOUGH THE COW RUMEN IS A VERY SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT, IMPROVING OUR ABILITY TO STUDY THIS ECOSYSTEM PROVIDES NOTABLE OPPORTUNITY TO ENHANCE UNDERSTANDING OF FERMENTATION, FOOD PRODUCTION, AND ENERGY GENERATION, NOT JUST WITHIN CATTLE BUT WITHIN ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION ENVIRONMENTS IN GENERAL. RUMEN MICROORGANISMS ARE SOME OF THE WORLD'S MOST EFFICIENT FERMENTERS OF FIBROUS MATERIALS HIGH IN CELLULOSE; HOWEVER, ONLY A FRACTION OF THE SPECIES IN THE RUMEN MICROBIOME HAVE BEEN SEQUENCED OR CULTURED. THE RUMEN ECOSYSTEM IS A COMPLEX HETEROGENEOUS ENVIRONMENT STRATIFIED VERTICALLY AND HORIZONTALLY THAT CONTAINS MYRIAD SPECIALIZED MICROCLIMATES CAUSED BY DIFFERING DENSITY OF FEED PARTICLES AND O2 CONCENTRATIONS, AMONG OTHER FACTORS, AND PRESENTS MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCIENCE THAT BENEFITS HUMANS AND THE ECONOMY.THE RUMENSROV WE PROPOSE WILL BE DEPLOYED IN CANNULATED COWS BY PUSHING THEM THROUGH THE FIBER MAT IN THE RUMEN. ONCE THROUGH THE FIBER MAT, THE RUMEN ROV WILL DEPLOY NOVEL TRAVELING WAVE LOCOMOTION TO MOVE TOWARDS THE LOCATION OF INTEREST BY COMBINING MAGNETIC LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUES, IMAGE GUIDANCE, INERTIAL MEASUREMENT, AND PIEZOELECTRIC MOTOR ACTUATED TRAVELING WAVE LOCOMOTION. THE UNIQUE, MILLIPEDED-INSPIRED LOCOMOTION PROVIDES A NON-DESTRUCTIVE METHOD OF MOVING AROUND IN-VIVO, WHICH PRESENTS AN IMPORTANT ADVANCE FOR SURGICAL ROBOTS. THE COMBINATION OF MULTIPLE ACTUATORS WITH CYCLIC ACTUATION PATTERN AND PHASE DIFFERENCE WILL RESULT IN A TRAVELING WAVE THAT WILL MOVE THE ROBOT IN 3-D. DATA TRANSFER FROM THE ROBOT TO A WEARABLE NECK COLLAR ON THE COW WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH A BODY AREA NETWORK, WHILE BATTERY POWER FORTHE ROBOT WILL BE SUPPLEMENTED WITH MAGNETOELECTRIC ENERGY MECHANISM WHERE EXTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELDS CAN BE CONVERTED INTO ELECTRICITY. THE RUMENSROV EVALUATION WILL BE CONDUCTED IN A LABORATORY TEST VAT UNTIL THE ROV MEETS DEFINED PERFORMANCE CRITERIA, INDICATING IT IS SAFE FOR ANIMAL TESTING. THE IN-ANIMAL EVALUATIONS WILL COMPARE ROV SENSED METRICS WITH SAMPLES COLLECTED USING CURRENT INDUSTRY STANDARDS.