ROBOT.LK

This mighty mechanical beast is a plough – but you won't see it in any farmer's field. The 35-tonne underwater worker digs in the silt deep on the ocean floor.

The uncrewed behemoth is towed behind a ship, burying the heavy power cable that runs from offshore wind turbines in a trench up to 2.5 metres deep. Burying undersea cables in a trench protects them from ships' anchors – or even saboteurs.

Mike Smith's striking image of the massive machine today won the professional category of a photography competition run by EEF, an organisation that supports British manufacturers.