Wednesday, August 6, 2008

IRobot introduces new Negotiator robot

By Mass High Tech Staff

Bedford-based iRobot Corp. has released a new robot for use by police officers and other public safety officials.

The robot, called the Negotiator, is intended for reconnaissance use by police, fire and homeland security personnel, according to iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT). The company said the Negotiator is able to climb stairs.

The robot is intended to be a smaller, lower-cost version of the PackBot military robot, according to iRobot. 
 
Last month, the company received a $17.5 million order from the U.S. Army for 220 of its PackBot military robots. Also in July, Gov. Deval Patrick presented the robotics company with 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.

In June, iRobot landed a $3.3 million, multi-year contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office to create Chemical Robots (ChemBots) for use in unmanned urban search and rescue and reconnaissance work. The ChemBots, to be developed by a team of Harvard University and MIT researchers, will have the advantage of a flexible material structure that enables maneuvering through openings smaller than its own at-rest dimensions. Also in June, iRobot licensed an underwater autonomous vehicle from the University of Washington. The vehicles, called Seagliders, are designed to enable civilian, academic and military personnel to complete oceanographic measurements.

Founded in 1990 by MIT robotics researchers, iRobot reported a 2007 net income of $9.1 million on revenue of $249.1 million.