A recently developed untethered but remotely operated survey platform, the PICASSO system, is described. This vehicle was designed specifically for surveys of macro- and megazooplankton and marine particulates (maximum depth 1000 m), to link information on gelatinous zooplankton diversity, behaviour and community structure with their function as packagers and producers of marine snow. In addition, an autonomous Visual Plankton Recorder, which is also deployable on the PICASSO vehicle, has been used to investigate particle profiles and plankton distribution vs. depth. Some results from these two systems from eastern Antarctica, the Coral Sea in Australia, and off Japan are introduced. Other techniques for imaging plankton in three dimensions are also introduced.