Eric Stackpole is co-founder of OpenROV, Inc., and creator of the OpenROV submarine, an open source, low cost "Remotely Operated Vehicle" (or ROV) underwater robot that can be piloted from the surface and stream live video to its operator. The intention of OpenROV is to democratize underwater exploration by making tools capable of exploring the deep available to anyone. After a very successful initial release of OpenROV kits through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, OpenROV has grown into a business that distributes kits for the OpenROV submarine to researchers, educators, technology enthusiasts, and explorers across the globe. Stackpole has worked on numerous other projects that utilize telerobotics as a means for exploration, including piloting ROV submarines under the Ross Sea in Antarctica and developing low-cost spacecraft used to carry out scientific missions in low earth orbit.