, BURLINGTON, Mass: iRobot Corp. today announced a delivery order from the U.S. Navy to build additional bomb-disposal robots for shipment to the U.S. forces overseas.
This latest award of $14 million from the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) brings the total value of the orders placed to date to $66 million. Under the terms of the contract order, iRobot will deliver an additional 101 iRobot PackBot Man Transportable Robotic System (MTRS) robots, plus spare parts to repair robots in the field.
iRobot shipped the initial lot of PackBot robots for this order in late March 2007, and the company expects to deliver the remaining robots pursuant to this delivery order before Dec. 31, 2007.
Under the terms of the previously existing Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract, the military could order up to the full $264 million value in robots, spare parts, training and repair services. The U.S. military's MTRS program has requirements for up to 1,200 robots through 2012.
“NAVSEA has been truly visionary in its advocacy for robots as valuable, life-saving tools that help keep U.S. troops out of harm's way,” said Vice Admiral Joe Dyer (U.S. Navy, Ret.), president of iRobot Government & Industrial Robots. “As the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) continues to grow, iRobot is committed to delivering these PackBot MTRS robots quickly so they can be deployed to our warfighters overseas.”
The PackBot MTRS robots are customized for NAVSEA and are based on iRobot's combat-proven PackBot EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) robots. PackBot MTRS robots are equipped with advanced tools and sensors that enable EOD technicians to detect, identify and disable explosive devices from safe distances.
To date, iRobot has delivered more than 800 PackBot robots to a broad range of military and civilian customers worldwide. The robots have performed tens of thousands of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and are credited with saving soldiers' lives.
iRobot is a provider of robots that perform dull, dirty or dangerous missions in a better way. The company's proprietary technology, iRobot AWARE Robot Intelligence Systems, incorporates advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. This proprietary system enables iRobot to build behavior-based robots, including its family of consumer and military robots.
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