iRobot receives orders totaling $22M

iRobot Corp. has announced it received orders under two separate contracts from the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), that manages these contracts on behalf of the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office at Warren, Mich. and Huntsville, Ala.

PEO STRI placed a $16 million order, the third under the xBot contract, to put more than 200 robots and spare parts into the hands of infantry by October 31, 2008. Orders to date now total $27 million under this $286 million Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract.

iRobot also received a delivery order totaling $6.3 million under the PEO STRI contract for a combination of iRobot® PackBot® 510 with EOD kit robots, the iRobot PackBot with ICx Fido Explosives Detection Kits, as well as spare parts and equipment. Total orders under this $64 million IDIQ contract equal $52 million, and iRobot expects to complete delivery by the end of September 30, 2008.

To date iRobot has delivered more than 1,500 PackBot robots.

Source: iRobot

Robotic FX and now for the soap opera

Last December we covered newcomer Robotic FX losing a huge Army contract. It seems their robot was actually iRobot's machine.

Noah Shachtman has written a great story about all of this over at Wired. Check it out.

More iRobot stories here.

Source: Wired

Future robots without a robotics industry?

Popular Mechanics has a good article out on robots and their future. One interesting quote is from iRobot's CEO Colin Angle. He was speaking at the RoboBusiness Conference and said, quite rightly, “Are we sure we’re not just an adjunct to another industry?”

Also covered in the piece is the quiet retreat from Iraq of the armed SWORDS robot. This Talon product was designed to carry 240, 249 or 50-caliber machine guns, the M202 –A1 with a 6mm rocket launcher or the ubiquitous M16. It seems there were technical issues.

Update April 15: Sharon Weinberger, at Danger Room, has an update on "the quiet retreat".

Update April 16: Popular Mechanics clarification.

Sources: Popular Mechanics and DoD
Photo: U.S. Army

New power source gets push

The Defense Department has awarded Adaptive Materials of Ann Arbor MI a $2.35 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Grant.

Adaptive Materials had previously received $1.75 million from the U.S. Army Tank and Automotive Command to develop its propane fuel cell power system for use on iRobot's PackBot. Operational time is reported to have been extended from 2 to 10 hours.

The new grant will move forward Adaptive Material's efforts to develop its' technology for use with UAVs.

Source: Various Photo: Adaptive Materials

LANdroid contract awarded

In June 2007 he Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA) issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) with the requirements for the LANdroid program. The BAA focused on two tasks.

A) The Autonomous Intelligent Control Layer

• Self-Configuration
• Self-Optimization
• Self-Healing
• Tethering
• and intelligent power management

B) The Underlying Low-cost, Low-power, Robust Platform

• Mechanical Platform
• Basic Behaviors
• Sensors/Actuators
• CPU
• Power
• Radio and Antennae

iRobot has announced it has received an award to develop the new portable communications relay robot in a multi-year program.

Sources: DARPA BAA and iRobot
Photo: DARPA

iRobot invests in tech

iRobot is the manufacturer of the popular PackBot military robots and the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV).

The Burlington MA company has just announced that it has invested $2.5 million in Advanced Scientific Concepts Inc (ASC). iRobot has also licensed ASD's "ladar" technology. Ladar, a mash-up of laser and radar, is used by ASD to produce 3-D images . These images could greatly advance robot mobility under adverse visual conditions such as unknown terrain or in dense fog.

You Tube has a technical presentation on the technology here.

Recent iRobot articles here.

Sources: As cited.

Testing of FCS early prototype systems accelerated

Boeing and partner Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the Lead Systems Integrator for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, today announced that the Army has accelerated test schedules for two FCS robotic prototypes based on current readiness levels and positive feedback from soldiers who are using early versions of the systems in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Beginning this month, 25 FCS Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) units developed jointly with iRobot Corporation and 11 Class I (Block 0) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) developed jointly with Honeywell will be delivered in increments to Army Evaluation Task Force soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas. The soldiers will train with the equipment before conducting user testing in the summer. Deliveries will occur between January and June 2008 with testing expected to conclude in September. Based on soldier feedback, a recommendation will be made to senior Army leadership whether to field the platforms or continue with system development under the core FCS program.

Source: Press release
Photo: Boeing

From lethal to less lethal could be good business

Metal Storm hasn't been in the news in a while. It's not that long ago, however, that everyone was watching videos of their rapid fire technology mounted on UGVs. Yesterday Metal Storm had a demo of it's technology but it's obviously looking for new markets. That's business and good for them if the new markets are there.

"The demonstration was designed to display several technical objectives which included the development of a family of Less Lethal munitions with smart round features; development of an electronic fire control system with targeting and ranging; the acquisition of a man-machine interface; and the integration of the entire system with an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV). Metal Storm met these objectives with an integrated weapon system that provides the operator with several options when responding to a domestic or Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) scenario."

"The system was developed by Metal Storm working with several key technology partners including iRobot who supplied their Warrior UGV platform and TeleRobotics who specializes in networked remotely operated weapons systems."

Source: Press Release

"The Robotic FX contract is no longer in existence,"

Those are the words of Joanne Byrd, the US Army administrator overseeing a $280 million contract.

The Readers Digest version goes something like this ... Unknown bidder (Robotic FX) wins big contract over iRobot. It seems the new company is run by a former iRobot employee. It seems the new robot is a lot like the iRobot product. The courts and private eyes get involved. Stuff is shredded. Finally DoD had enough and the contract has been awarded to iRobot.

The unfolding soap opera has been well covered by Hiawatha Bray in the Boston Globe.

Sources: Boston Globe, Engadget, iRobot Press Release.

New iRobot PackBot with Mapping Kit

Today iRobot announced a new release available to R&D labs in government, industry and academic institutions. "PackBot with Mapping Kit is the first field tested and deployed robot to integrate real-time mapping and semi-autonomous remote operational capabilities, delivering soldiers advanced situational awareness while they remain a safe distance from danger."

iRobot has been involved with the Wayfarer Project which looks to develop fully-autonomous urban reconnaissance capabilities for the PackBot. This effort is funded by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Tank-Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC). It looks like the PackBot with Mapping Kit is the first spin-off of these efforts.

Source: Various including Corporate Press Release