Wednesday, July 16, 2008

IRobot gets $240k toward efficient work training

By Mass High Tech Staff

Personal and military robot maker iRobot Corp. has landed a $240,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development.

The workforce training grant will be used to train 130 iRobot employees in Lean management practices.

Gov. Deval Patrick presented iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) with the grant at a meeting of the Massachusetts Robotics Cluster Advisory Board at iRobot’s new headquarters in Bedford.
   
At the meeting, Patrick said the cluster could emerge as an important sector of the state’s economy, comparing it to life sciences and clean technology. The state robotics industry employs more than 2,500 people and rings up annual sales of more than $942 million, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

The office said it will give out 75 grants this year, including $6.7 million in workforce development grants that will go to training more than 6,700 people. 

Last month, iRobot won a $3.3 million, multi-year contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Office to create Chemical Robots (ChemBots) for use in unmanned urban search and rescue and reconnaissance work. Also in June, the robotics company reached a license agreement with the University of Washington to commercialize its “Seaglider” underwater vehicle technology developed at the university.

Bedford-based iRobot reported a 2007 net income of $9.1 million on revenue of $249.1 million.