MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russia has developed micro-robots weighing 8-10 kilograms and capable of working under the Arctic ice, Head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Robotics Main Research and Testing Center Sergei Popov told TASS on Thursday.

The micro-robots are currently undergoing the first trials, he added.

"A separate area of work is represented by micro-robots, which are pocket-size research probes that weigh 8-10 kilograms and can perform research missions for up to 4 hours at a distance of up to 4 kilometers from their launch point," Popov said.

Micro-robots can be launched "directly under the ice from the hands, to which they will return after a research mission is over," he noted.

"Such probes have been developed as of now and are undergoing trials. These small robots are characterized by their ability to work both with each other and with other underwater apparatus operating in the research area," the head of the Robotics Center said.

The collective use of such micro-robots will allow expanding the possibilities of Arctic expeditions for conducting oceanic research, he said.

Work in the Arctic today requires hi-tech maritime technical means that could operate both amid conditions of loose or packed ice, solving the tasks of operational hydrography, and could "serve as re-transmitters of data for civil information processing centers and for facilities of Russia’s Defense Ministry," Popov said.