iRobot Awarded Six Small Business Innovative Research R&D Grants

18th November 2008 - 05:31 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT) today announced it has been awarded six new Phase Two Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Grants. These projects are to be funded by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO). These six awards are worth a total of $4.4 million.

Under these contracts, iRobot will develop technology related to human-robot interaction, unmanned ground and air vehicle coordination, semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle tele-operation and navigation, and electronics diagnostics and health monitoring. These technologies will provide increased capabilities for iRobot's military robots, including PackBot, SUGV and Warrior by making them smarter, easier to use and integrated with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

"As support for our military robots continues to grow, agencies from across the DoD look to iRobot as a leader in developing next generation robotics capabilities," said Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government and Industrial Robots. "Through awards such as these, iRobot is able to develop new technologies and deliver new capabilities to the warfighter. Keeping our troops safe is our first and foremost strategic priority."

iRobot has delivered more than 2,000 PackBot robots that make a difference every day by conducting dangerous missions that keep warfighters out of harm's way.