In 1995, these vehicles were built under Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsorship. We incorportated lower cost design elements and the RS232 computer interfaces simplified distributed intelligence. Robust and relatively simple to use, two of the Odyssey IIb AUVs were used in a month-long experiment in June of 1996 to study the dynamics of frontal mixing in the Haro Strait, off of Vancouver Island. The vehicles carried water quality sensors, a side-scan sonar, and an water-current profiler. Over a 21-day period, the two vehicles performed 67 dives with no failures.