iRobot Projects 4,000 Military Robot Sales in 2013

At a conference for analysts on its campus in Massachusetts yesterday, iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ:IRBT) projected sales of 4,000 military robots in 2013, up from about 1,000 now. That's a pretty astonishing growth rate, but that actually matches up pretty well with the growth over the past five years. This is the fastest growing sector of the military budget. They did not project a revenue number for that level of robots. But even if per unit sales average just $75,000-$100,000 (including all of the spare parts revenue they would be accumulating), I'd expect the military side of the company alone to be around $300 million to $400 million in annual revenue.

iRobot CEO Colin Angle also mentioned the company's growing patent portfolio as an asset as well. (I've been paying a lot of attention to the patent filings for hints of future products, including an iRobot lawnmower and a next-generation Square-front Roomba.) But the company's patents on various basic PackBot and Roomba technologies may be more valuable to a potential acquirer.

Tags: iRobot, robot