Bruce Keafer calls it a robot in a box. Roughly the size of a kitchen sink, it was lowered into the waters off Portsmouth, N.H., last week, where it will sample marine organisms to measure toxic red tide cells over the next 45 days.

The device, he hopes, will be a tool for forecasting outbreaks of red tide.

Initial results have detected red tide cells off Portsmouth in areas where shellfish had not tested positive for toxins.

via Device may help forecast outbreaks of red tide - Boston.com.