Numerous species spend part or all of their lives underground, inside burrow systems which provide essential shelter from climate and predation, and are among the largest structures built by animals. Burrow architecture would be expected to optimize internal conditions and functionality; however, these aspects remain poorly understood. This is because the primary method of investigating complex burrow systems has been by excavating them, a laborious and destructive method that limits the extent of research and precludes recording internal conditions and structural dynamics. We propose an interdisciplinary collaboration to develop a miniaturized robot for burrow exploration and to use it to advance our understanding of burrowing animal ecology. Thus, our aim is twofold, first, development of a burrow-exploring robot, capable of traversing underground tunnels, mapping their structure, and recording imagery and internal conditions including temperature, humidity, oxygen and CO2 concentrations. This innovative, non-destructive method will provide novel data on burrow structure, dynamics and internal environmental conditions. Second, using the robot we will study a strictly subterranean model species, the Middle East blind mole-rat (Nannospalax ehrenbergi), which inhabits complex, sealed, burrow systems. We will examine the ecological drivers that shape burrow architecture and their associations with internal conditions. We will also track the mole-rat behaviour underground using body acceleration biologging to relate it to burrow construction and internal conditions. Combinedly, we will address three ecological goals: (a) Understand burrow architecture regularities and variability by mapping multiple burrow systems across individuals and habitats; (b) Investigate burrow construction processes through repeated mapping over seasons and by field experiments including animal translocations; (c) Characterize internal burrow conditions and link them with burrow architecture and with the resident animal activity. We believe that the findings, together with the ground-breaking methodology developed in this project, will advance the frontiers of knowledge on animal burrow ecology, and pave the way for research in other subterranean species.