Burlington, MA’s iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) announced this morning that it had received a U.S. Army order worth $8.8 million to deliver 40 of its PackBot robots, plus equipment and spare parts.
The order was made on behalf of the Robotic Systems Joint Project Office at Redstone Arsenal—the same office that spearheaded the recent X-Bot competition that resulted in a $279.9 million contract going to iRobot rival Robotic FX. (That contract is currently subject to a stay imposed by the Government Accountability Office, and is at the center of iRobot’s lawsuits against Robotic FX.) Despite that connection, however, the $8.8 million order announced today is part of a separate contract originally awarded to iRobot in June, 2006.
Today’s order brings total orders under the contract to $45 million; the full value of the agreement could ultimately top $64 million. IRobot says it expects to deliver the latest batch of PackBots by the end of June 2008.
