A buoy is a structure that is float on the sea surface used for the navigational, marine science, monitoring the meteorology and oceanography changes of the marine environment. This article presents a literature review on research and development of floating buoy technology for research purposes. The article starts with the historical background of various buoy technologies. Then, floating buoy working principles used for research are discussed. The reviewed according to the type of buoy technology for research purposes (tsunami buoy type, wave buoy type, weather buoy type, and profiling buoy type). This is followed by an overview of the buoy applications that have been undertaken by Malaysian research communities. The proposed concept design of buoy will be shown with the initial stability parameters analysis. To conclude, based on the research work undertaken thus far, what the researchers should expect as future work are suggested.