Monday, November 17, 2008

Military hands $4.4M in six grants to iRobot

By Mass High Tech Staff

Bedford-based iRobot Corp. reports it has landed $4.4 million in grants from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. The grants comprise six Phase 2 Small Business Innovative Research grants awarded by the Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, the Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Army Research Office.

Under the contracts, iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) 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.

Earlier this month, iRobot landed $2 million worth of Congressional support to improve development and production of its Warrior 700 robot for combat areas. The iRobot Warrior carries up to 150-pound payloads and covers inaccessible and dangerous areas with sensor readings and real-time video and audio. The robot also features a different center of gravity than previous robots, adding to its mobility.

Also this month, the robotics company opened its first-ever retail kiosk in the Burlington Mall. The mall kiosk, just down the street from Bedford-based iRobot’s old Burlington headquarters, will offer direct and online sales of the company’s robots, including the Roomba vacuum cleaner, Scooba floor washer, Looj gutter cleaner, Dirt Dog industrial sweeper and Verro pool cleaner. The kiosk will be open until Jan. 15, 2009, and will feature live demonstrations of the robots, the company said.

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