Paging IRBT analysts: Why do you ask such terrible questions?

iRobot's conference call this morning was very, very boring, almost tedious, and I blame the analysts. All they seemed to care about were vague questions about "color" for next year's numbers. Nobody had a truly insightful question, including the obvious ones:
1) How concerned are you about the threats from Neato Robotics, Mint Cleaner, Samsung, and are you worried that they are taking share in stores where they compete head to head (Bed, Bath and Beyond, Hammacher, Amazon)? (There was a question about losing share in the U.S. because of a lack of product supply while they await production from a new contract manufacturer, and Angle said he didn't think they were losing share. But share of what? Share of the robot vacuum market? They most certainly are because their share had been 100% and now it is something less than that. Angle also seemed to put in a possible dig to Neato's apparent early reliability issues by saying how big a challenge it is to build a robot that "stays sold" instead of being returned. But it's sheer negligence not to ask about Neato!)
2) How concerned are you that Roomba and Scooba have gone several years now without a major upgrade, and don't have smart navigation technology along the lines of Evolution or Neato Robotics?
3) The big new Navy contract for next-generation EOD robots is out of sync with iRobot's products, because it calls for a 700 pound class robot and you only have a 300 pound class robot (Warrior). Do you need to rethink your products or can you compete with the products you have?
4) You just announced a new partnership with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. You already have a partnership with Boeing. Is there a point at which iRobot could be up for sale, or when you would consider selling off the G&I business, for example?

The only good question I heard was whether they had secured nickel for 2011 and hedged it. iRobot's CFO said that they had already secured a contract for nickel for 2011, which is good news (and something I asked several weeks ago. If they had secured a long-term contract in 2008, when I first started banging the drum on this, they still probably would have saved millions. Alas!)

iRobot Posts Earnings Call Transcript

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) posted the script for the start of its earnings call on its website.

The actual call takes place at 8:30.

The text has a bunch of positives, including growth in South America, strong military orders, strong Roomba orders, and a stronger balance sheet.

Thx, Potts

iRobot Reports Strong 3rd Quarter Results, Ups Guidance Again on Strong Roomba Sales

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) reported its third quarter earnings after the close, and it was another stellar report, blowing away profit estimates with 27 cents per diluted share and upping full year estimates significantly to 80-82 cents a share, far above consensus estimates of 57 cents. Even that could be too low, given that the company has started making a habit of blowing away estimates.
The star of the show continues to be overseas sales of the Roomba, up 58 percent over last year. Domestic sales are still slow, but prices are rising and iRobot's margins continue to expand — an excellent sign. If there was any pressure from new entrants into the field, like Samsung, the Mint Cleaner from Evolution Robotics or the Neato Robotics XV-11, it didn't show up in their report.
Remember that iRobot's report could have been even better if they had enough product on hand; the company has warned that it will not have enough Roomba manufacturing capacity until early 2011 when a new contract manufacturer comes on board.
The military side of the business also is healthy, with a growing backlog.

One thing I though was interesting is that earnings soared even though research and development spending doubled from $3 million to $6 million. That's a very good sign that iRobot is investing in its future and isn't eating its seed corn. The company is basically putting half of its profit back into the business with R&D, and pocketing the other half. I like that ratio.

The earnings conference call is tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. We'll have live highlights.

Colin Angle: "Many, many, many hundreds" of PackBots Killed in Action by Roadside Bombs; Sees Growth in Military Robotics Despite Defense Cuts

Colin Angle

iRobot CEO Colin Angle told Forbes magazine that he sees opportunities for continued growth in military robots even with future budget cuts in Defense spending. The company's robots cost a lot less than other military items (ed: like people), and are proven to save lives. Angle said he doesn't have a precise number of how many PackBots have been killed in action by roadside bombs, but said that it is in the "many, many, many hundreds." Angle figures that every dead robot probably saved multiple lives. (He previously has credited iRobot with saving more than 1,000 lives during an appearance in Japan).

Angle also said that the Roomba business has had particularly strong sales in Europe and Japan, and he's confident that will continue. "Clearly we think that it was not just a shot in the pan," Angle said. (Ed: I think we can expect a good earnings report after the bell!)

Link to Fortune

iRobot Names Human Resources VP

Russell J. Campanello has been tapped as iRobot's new VP of Human Resources. Perhaps this is a sign they expect more growth?

Coffee Balloon Robotic Hand Co-Developed by iRobot

Coffee-Filled Hand

This latest invention is, frankly, amazing. iRobot and researchers at Cornell and the University of Chicago with funding from DARPA developed a powerful robotic hand using a simple vacuum, a balloon, and coffee grounds. Here's how it works — the coffee-filled balloon is lowered onto an object that needs picking up. The balloon deforms around the object. Then the vacuum is activated, and the coffee grounds suddenly lock together and effectively tighten the balloon's grip. Then the object can be picked up.
I'm sure they can advance this technology to a host of applications. You can already guess the one I'd like to see — A robotic hand attachment for the Roomba that picks up toys, socks, underwear and anything else in its way!

Here's the video:


Popular Science has more.

BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, iRobot Partner on Ground Combat Vehicle

With earnings due today, iRobot's been coming fast and furious this week with the press releases. Yesterday, BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman announced they are partnering with iRobot on the new Ground Combat Vehicle.

From the press release: "iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) will serve as the unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) integrator and enhance the capability to detect pedestrians and obstacles of interest with growth towards an autonomous driving capability for the GCV.  iRobot will also be responsible for integration of the U.S. Army's Brigade Combat Team modernization program Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) robotic platform so that it can be operated from inside the GCV.

"We are very pleased to be a member of the BAE Systems-Northrop Grumman GCV team," said Robert Moses, president of iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots division. "Together we offer extensive experience in combat platform production and robotics integration capabilities to the GCV program. The GCV is an extremely important program for the Army and today's soldier. We are proud to be part of a team that looks to develop the U.S. Army's next generation combat vehicle."

For investors, this is double-barreled news. It gives iRobot a new and unexpected revenue stream, and perhaps more importantly, makes the company even more valuable as a potential takeover target. The company now has key partnerships with several of the biggest defense contractors in the world. I simply can't imagine one of them NOT wanting to buy iRobot in the next couple of years when faced with big cuts to defense budgets around the world (except the Middle East and Asia). In a shrinking market, iRobot's business has the potential to keep growing, and technologies like Awarehead can be transferred to a host of other autonomous and semi-autonomous robots.

iRobot gets $1.82 million in Seaglider contracts

Seaglider, iRobot's chief ocean-monitoring robot, has received two contracts worth $1.82 million combined, iRobot announced a few minutes ago.

While any contract here is good news, to date the company's multi-million-dollar investment in oceangoing robots has yet to pay off. The company lost out on a major Navy contract a while back. I think there is still potential here, given the Seaglider's really cool features — it's ability to remotely operate up to 10 months at sea and it's ability to be fitted with various sensors, such as picking up submerged oil in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

But, there is more competition in this space than in iRobot's chief land robot market, less urgent a need than dealing with roadside bombs and the like, and no true killer app yet that would turn this into a huge market.  Perhaps a global climate system with hundreds or thousands of Seagliders monitoring everything from salinity to acidity to ocean temperatures? If we had a legitimate naval threat like we had during the Cold War, I could imagine Seagliders being used as a movable sonar array. But that doesn't seem to be a priority with the focus on insurgencies and missile defense.

The company has also done some work on robotic boats, which could be used for patrols and the like, but does the Navy, dominated by ship captains and former ship captains, really want to give up the glory of human-piloted ships? I doubt it, even though it makes tremendous sense. The boom in submersible robots instead seems like it will be focused on the offshore oil production industry — an industry where iRobot doesn't really have a foothold yet.

Colin Angle interviewed by Wired

iRobot CEO Colin Angle was interviewed by Wired this week and expounded on several topics, including his friendship with Google co-founder Larry Page (Angle was at Page's wedding), who he credits with Google's "gratuitous" robotic vehicle venture, his vision for providing most health care in the home via telepresence robots and sophisticated sensors, and his disdain for robotic toys.

Worth a look.

iRobot Playing Key Role Developing Advanced Robotic Arm for DARPA

DARPA's reference robot

IEEE Spectrum has a well-done, in-depth report on DARPA's advanced robotic manipulator arm project at this link. The project includes various teams competing to provide the best hardware and software on the project, but iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) is the only private company competing, and one of just two teams competing in both hardware and software categories. DARPA is providing funding, including delivering expensive robots to each of the teams to work on and compete with.

The article and interview with the DARPA manager also is fascinating for its talk of the importance of bringing down the cost of robotic manipulation and dealing with the vastly more complicated tasks like picking up pieces of paper or handling wires on an IED. The idea is to get the robot to constantly correct for errors based on visual and other cues the way a human does. This could obviously have major benefits for a variety of robotic uses both military and civilian, so we'll keep an eye on it.

Gold-Plated Roomba Robot Shown during iRobot CEO Colin Angle's Visit to Japan

Bling is back, I guess. I never thought I'd see a 24K-gold Roomba, until now. I mean, it's a vacuum cleaner people! Aren't we supposed to be in a recession? Isn't gold at like $1,400 an ounce?

24K Gold Plated Roomba

The pictured gold-plated Roomba, which looks like a modified Roomba 560, was shown during a recent visit by iRobot CEO Colin Angle to Japan (Google translated Japanese page).

The translation is a bit glitchy, as you might imagine. It says that the "Rumba" has sold 500 million copies in the U.S. (the real number is 5 million worldwide). Colin Angle also talked about the company's focus on building nursing robots, Japanese robotics' tendency to build robots that are only targeted at the luxury market, and the coming wave in future decades of robotic replacement parts to augment the body parts you already have, like arms, legs, eyes, etc., which Angle suggests would largely be a market for the rich.

Japan has become iRobot's second-largest market after the United States, with sales booming recently as part of a hugely successful international rollout of the Roomba 500 series.

Along with last-week's media event in New York, Angle and iRobot seem to have really stepped up their marketing efforts of late. Now, if they would only hurry up and release a 6th generation Roomba with navigation, or a robotic lawnmower under $1,000, I'd be happy.

Next Generation EOD Robots Planned by Navy to Fight IED Threat

The Navy just posted a presolicitation notice that they will be posting preliminary requirements for a key competition for part of the Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System (AEODRS). According to the notice, they see a family of three robots all sharing the same controllers and software.

There will be three variants — a 35-pound "dismounted" one, i.e. soldiers walking without their vehicles; a 164-pound "tactical" one; and a 750-pound one for base operations, according to an April article in AUVSI's magazine. From my vantage point, this seems teed up for iRobot. They have the 30-pound SUGV variants for dismounted operations, which so far is blowing competitors like the Dragon Runner from Qinetiq out of the water; the heavier 50-pound PackBot for tactical operations; and the 347-pound Warrior for base and/or tactical operations. (Maybe they'll have to develop a bigger variant?) They also have been working hard on their Aware 2 operating system and easy-to-use controllers across their whole line. But the head of the project may not want any one company to control the operating system, complaining that they now have to deal with three proprietary systems from iRobot, Foster-Miller and Northrop Grumman.

“All three of those systems are basically proprietary systems; they were modified commercial items that have proprietary architecture interfaces,” said Byron Brezina, robotics technologist at the Naval EOD Technology Division of Naval Sea Systems Command’s Naval Surface Warfare Center at Indian Head, Md., in the AUVSI article. “They were the right choice and the right strategy at the time, and now it’s time to really focus on a modular, open systems approach for the future, and that’s really what the AEODRS is all about.” 

The initial packet, due Dec. 15, will include detailed specs for the dismounted variant. Given the importance of robots on the point, and having ever-smaller, more robust and lighter gear, and the advantages SUGV now has over its competitors, I'm hopeful iRobot will win this very important contract. But those detailed specs could determine iRobot's chances one way or another, and we need to look at them carefully when they come out. Outside the looming long-term contract for the SUGV, this could be iRobot's second-most important contract fight and essential to defending their existing business, given that AEODRS is intended to replace Packbots, Talons and other robots now ruling EOD work.
To date, iRobot and U.K.-based Qinetiq-owned Foster-Miller have split Navy robotics contracts close to 50-50, but there seems to be at least the potential for a winner-take-all contract here. The Navy will probably have to decide whether it wants to keep two or three contractors up and running for similar products for future innovation and competition, and deal with the resulting complexity of systems and higher costs for repairs, etc., or go with one system for the long-term. Indeed, one of the reasons for AEODRS is to reduce the complexity and footprints from having three separate systems (PackBots, Talons and bigger EOD robots from Northrop Grumman).
Qinetiq, meanwhile, has had serious financial problems of late, and is shedding 700 jobs in the U.K., which is facing a round of budget cuts, and this month sold off its U.S. services business for $60 million to Mantech, so they will surely be hungry to get back in the game. You know what they say about a wounded dog.

According to this earlier story on the AEODRS project, the timeline for fielding the dismounted robots is 2013, to be followed by the other variants in later years.

iRobot Packbot Video Shows Aware 2 Software and Hardware Upgrades

As iRobot announced a $14 million order for upgrades to its FasTac line of PackBots last week, the company released a video on YouTube detailing the many upgrades they have developed, including the Aware 2 software, controllers, various arms, grippers, cameras, lights, and more. Take a look:

iRobot's Maryellen Abreu's run-in with TreeHugger

Maryellen Abreu, iRobot's director of technical support, impresses in this YouTube clip from a customer service forum in which she discusses how she dealt with the infamous TreeHugger fiasco. An iRobot customer service rep told a caller, who happened to write for TreeHugger, to throw a nonworking Roomba in the trash instead of recycling it. She tells the story starting at around 4:07 in this clip:

Roomba Sumo Wrestling — in the Baltics

Roomba wrestling in Tallinn, Estonia, via YouTube: 

Yes, the Roomba phenomenon is global.

Evolution Robotics CEO talks Mint Cleaner with Botjunkie

Evan Ackerman at Botjunkie interviewed Evolution Robotics' CEO Paulo Pirjanian about the Mint cleaner, the company's vision for the future, and iRobot's Celestial Navigation Patent for its dominant Roomba line of robotic vacuums.

The Mint Cleaner from Evolution Robotics

Pirjanian talked with Evan about his idea for building a simple, quiet Swifferbot with advanced navigation capabilities, his decision not to focus initially on a vacuum, the decision not to have a self-charging home base (cost, etc.), and his vision to own home floor cleaning (effectively coming after iRobot's lunch money).

Pirjanian called iRobot's navigation patent, which is very similar to Evolution's Northstar system in that both use infrared mapping via a stationary emitter bouncing beams off of the ceiling, "flattering." But, he added, "it’s one thing to come up with the idea, it’s a completely different thing to get it to work. And specifically, getting it to work within the particular size or cost targets that we need it to be at."


Hear that, iRobot CEO Colin Angle? You've been called out as a bunch of late-to-the-navigation-party has-beens.

Between Evolution Robotics and Neato Robotics, I sense an East Coast — West Coast robotics rivalry kicking off, and you don't want to end up like Tupac with a bunch of bullet holes in your gut.

Let's hope you have something up your sleeve, like a fabulous new Roomba, for 2011.

I'm still not a fan of the Mint. I think putting Northstar onto a Swifferbot is like putting satellite navigation on a bicycle. But maybe I'm wrong and Pirjanian's focus groups are right.

Paulo, meanwhile, isn't resting on his laurels. He pointed out his company's v-slam technology, which uses robotic vision to map out an environment rather than the somewhat clumsy dots-on-a-ceiling approach. That seems to be the future of robotics, and it merely requires getting the software right because the hardware — cameras — is a relatively trivial cost nowadays.

iRobot Press Event no biggie

Technobuffalo has photos from an iRobot press event this evening, but it looks like it was just an overview of existing products.

Link.

(Several other blogs covered this event, but I still can't find anything that I hadn't heard before.)

Test post

GQCWCCYEKP7T

Nickel prices surging; Has iRobot hedged yet?

I called for iRobot to lock in low nickel prices for the long term two years ago, back when Nickel was trading at about $5 a pound. As far as I can tell, iRobot didn't listen to me, and instead buys its nickel a year at a time. Nickel is the most expensive part of Roomba or Scooba, because it makes up the bulk of the batteries. Nickel prices have now doubled to about $11 a pound. That's still well off the high of $24, but iRobot had an opportunity to lock in historically low nickel prices for the very long term back when the market was cratering.

Indeed, iRobot's lack of hedging cost the company about $5 million a few years ago when nickel prices spiked, all but wiping out their profit that year. If they had listened to me in 2008, they would have pocketed millions in savings next year.

Maybe they should pay me a consulting fee?

;-}

Ex-iRobot Executive Sean Bielat Running Against Barney Frank

Sean Bielat, a former iRobot executive and Harvard-educated Marine who worked in the company's military division, is the Republican candidate this year against longtime incumbent Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Financial Services Committee and the co-author of the Wall Street reform bill. The conservative Wall Street Journal recently profiled Bielat.

According to his FEC disclosure, Bielat hasn't raised much money. His backers, however, include iRobot Co-Founder Helen Greiner (maxed out at $2,400) and iRobot military division president Joe Dyer ($1,000).

(Greiner has been a smalltime bipartisan giver; She's donated over the years to John Kerry's presidential bid, liberal defense appropriator Jim Moran, conservative Republican Todd Akin (who sits on the Armed Services Committee) and Massachusetts Democrat John Tierney. Dyer has a similar giving pattern, including Moran, Akin and Tierney.

Will Apple, Google or Microsoft Buy iRobot?

I think a takeover of iRobot is increasingly likely in the next five years or so. The rivalry between Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will extend from the current battlefield of phones, tablets and PCs to other areas of the home. And not just TVs. One of the big Silicon Valley firms will make a serious foray into home robotics, and when that happens, I could easily see one of them finding some pocket change to buy iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT). The iRobot name is perfect for Apple's stable of iProducts, and iRobot is already hiring programmers to integrate its products with iPads, iPhones, Android products and the like. Microsoft has also long shown an interest in robotics, and has the Microsoft Robotics Studio, and there simply is no other consumer robotics company with anything close to iRobot's scale.

Neato Robotics and Evolution Robotics have potential, and could also be gobbled up for their innovative navigation techniques relatively cheaply, but neither has a brand that anybody's ever heard of. iRobot has two established brands: iRobot and Roomba, and a huge reservoir of talent among their 600+ employees, and yet could be bought for less than $1 billion.

As a longtime AAPL investor (I bought when it was $7 a share — one of the best investments of all time — and only wish I'd bought more so I could retire), I'm most intrigued by an AAPL purchase. Can you imagine how Roomba sales would be turbocharged by Apple's retailing, marketing, branding and design machine? Imagine what Jonny Ive would do with it!

iRobot has already shown that there is a large market for their products, with more than 5 million home robots sold to date. And Apple is a product-driven company unlike Google or Microsoft. iRobot, like Apple, has both software expertise, with its Aware 2 operating system, and hardware, with Roomba. And iRobot, like AAPL, has always operated debt-free, and seems to have a similar corporate culture, if a tad less intense. 

As I've written before, a buyout of iRobot has become more likely with two of the co-founders leaving to form other robotics startups. I don't see a takeover being likely unless the co-founders all agree to sell, given they and other insiders still own a hefty portion of the stock, and the company was set up to make hostile takeovers very difficult.

But the company's military business remains a potential sticking point. I think a buyout from a military firm is actually more likely than a consumer company in the short-term. The big military contractors are thirsty for growth in an era where Defense spending will likely decline, and military robotics is an area that from all accounts will keep growing regardless of the overall budget figures. Once iRobot gets a long-term, big-number Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) contract in the next year or two, who knows? Maybe the mystery defense contractor that had agreed to buy RoboticFX after it briefly won out in the xBot competition with iRobot would be interested. Maybe the Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), iRobot's longtime partner on the SUGV, would do it.

Either scenario seems likely to lead to a breakup of the company. I can't imagine Google, Apple or Microsoft wanting to own a military hardware company. And I can't imagine a big defense contractor wanting to sell vacuum cleaners. 

In the meantime, iRobot has just kept its focus on growth, and has delivered despite the economic difficulties of the past couple of years. (It's stock has nearly tripled from its 2008 nadir). The SUGV, promises of new and improved home robots next year, a stellar balance sheet and the company's first real profits mean the company should thrive on its own as well. It still has largely untapped foreign markets to penetrate and plenty of room to innovate inside the home. If it can deliver a solid product in its nascent healthcare division, look out above!

Enzyme Scooba Solution Debuted by iRobot

New iRobot Scooba solution

iRobot has replaced its Scooba solution made by Clorox Corp. with an all-new Enzyme Solution that they say will clean up tough spills but is nontoxic and safe around people and pets. They are selling a six-pack for $39. 

That's a much better deal than the older solution, because the new solution is effectively more concentrated and has a whopping 64 uses per 16-ounce bottle. If you try it out, let me know how you like it.

Air Force Buying up to 70 SUGVs for up to $9.3 million; iRobot hopes for Saudi Arabia sales

iRobot SUGV

UPDATED 10/18: The contract reference below is actually for $9.3 million, with $3.84 million representing the first, firm order for 25 robots and related equipment. The full $9.3 million would come through if all 70 SUGV robots are ordered, according to this Air Force memo. That amounts to $132,000 per robot, a very good price for iRobot.
The memo also appears to show that Qinetiq, iRobot's chief military rival, bid on the contract but was rejected. (Qinetiq's name is clearly visible in a not-quite-blacked out portion of the document.) Thx, Joe!

Another contract award has been announced for the SUGV 310. Boeing (NYSE:BA) and iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) announced that the Air Force, a new customer for iRobot, has signed an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract for up to 70 SUGVs for its EOD teams, with an "initial value" of $3.84 million. (It's not clear from the press release if "initial value" represents a firm order or the whole IDIQ contract). If that amount covers all 70 robots, that's pretty cheap at about $55,000 each. This isn't the big kahuna, multi-hundred million-dollar contract we're hoping for from the Army, but every new customer counts.

We also spotted an item detailing Boeing's attempts to sell the SUGV 310 to Saudi Arabia, a big buyer of U.S. military hardware, at this link.

Colin Angle to Keynote Healthcare Robotics Symposium in Boston

iRobot CEO Colin Angle will keynote a symposium on health care robotics Oct. 20 in Boston. It doesn't sound like he's going to unveil the company's long-awaited healthcare robot, which appears likely to be another year or more away given that they are still hiring software developers for iPad, iPhone and Android apps for its healthcare robot. But Tod Loofburrow, the president of iRobot's healthcare division, will be presenting as well, and perhaps we will get a better sense of what the company is up to. (I won't be attending, so if you will, shoot me a report!)

But in the meantime, lots of other robotics honchos will be there, and it's clear that health care is getting a ton of robotic investment, mainly because of the blowout success of Intuitive Surgical Corporation (NASDAQ:ISRG).

Here's a partial lineup:

Stefan Bircher, Executive Vice President, Hocoma (Robotic Rehabilitation Therapy - Cool)

Howard Choset, CTO, Cardiorobotics (Tiny Catheter "Snake" Robots Operate Inside the Body)

David Handler, President & CEO, Corindus Vascular Robotics (Robotic heart procedures)

Dr. Hugh Herr, Founder & CSO, iWalk (Human Augmentation and, hmm, future Apple product?)

Brad Kayton, CEO, vGo Communications (New telepresence robots just went on the market)

Steve Kelly, CEO, Myomo Inc. (Post-stroke rehabilitation robotic arm)

Cory Kidd, CEO & Founder, Intuitive Automata (Robotic weight-loss coach)

Catherine Mohr, MD MSME, Director of Medical Research, Intuitive Surgical  

Charles Remsburg, CEO, Tibion (Robotic leg for stroke rehab)

Deborah Theobald, Chairwoman & CEO, Vecna Technologies (Variety of robotics solutions, form kiosks to robotic hospital couriers to battlefield rescue robots.)

William Townsend, President & CEO, Barrett Technology (Leader in robotic arm technologies for applications including post-stroke rehab and the military)

Bionic Men and Women Finally Within Reach

Frank Tobe of The Robot Report has a great post on the emerging field of bionics — basically using robotic technologies to allow, for instance, wheelchair-bound people to walk for the first time. I'll add that iRobot co-founders Rodney Brooks and Colin Angle have predicted that the area of robotics that is most likely to surprise us are add-ons to humans. (There are a host of things we could attach to our bodies to make us more productive, like instant telescopic vision on demand, or replacement eyeballs for low-vision people, or exo-skeletons that allow us to run as fast as horses or swim underwater for days or any number of things). Worth a peek.

Robots Guarding Nukes in Nevada — But Not iRobot's

Danger Room reports that robotic truck sentries are now guarding nukes in Nevada, saving millions of dollars versus alternative guard methods, like stationary sensors and people. (Presumably, this could also work for border patrol). 

All seems perfectly logical and good. I had just hoped a few years ago that iRobot's R-Gator robot sentry and the company's Autonomous Vehicle Kit would have evolved to win contracts like this. Alas, R-Gator seems to be a low priority for the company. I still see potential here for iRobot however, and potentially a lot of other players, as the company continues to develop autonomous and semi-autonomous capabilities like Awarehead for its PackBot and SUGV line. I could see Awarehead having broad cross-platform potential for labor-intensive tasks from border patrol to agriculture.

iRobot set to get sole-source extension on PackBot contract?

The company has not announced this yet as far as I know, but iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) appears set to get awarded a one-year sole source contract extension (along with competitor Foster-Miller) for PackBots. It's not clear how much is going to iRobot. This Navy contracting sole-source justification memo says that the combined cost of the two contracts is $77 million. Beyond that, too much is blocked out, including how many robot systems the Navy needs.

Last year, iRobot received a one-year extension on this contract worth $13.4 million. (Foster-Miller's was $56.4 million.) Oddly, the contract number for Foster-Miller's piece of the $77 million lists a new Sept. 30, 2010 contract award date, but only last-year's award is available to review online. The iRobot contract number doesn't show any award yet, or even a link to the joint sole-source justification memo, but I imagine one is forthcoming shortly, given that the sole-source memo specifically lists iRobot Corporation.

Also of note, the memo says that new five-year contracts, with the amounts blacked out, are expected to be awarded in December or January following audits of the proposals, which were submitted earlier this year. But of note, while the dollar amounts are blacked out, it suggests each contract is valued at the same level as the other. That could be good news for iRobot, presuming their bid is accepted, given that they were on the short end of the stick on this contract for the past year.

No recession at iRobot Corporation; 34 Jobs Available

Still in growth mode, iRobot's website lists 34 jobs available right now across all of the company's divisions, including what seems like the largest number of home robots positions I've seen in a while. That's not an all time high — I seem to remember at one point this page showed close to 50 listings a couple of years ago — but it shows iRobot is still in growth mode. I doubt they'd be hiring this many people if they weren't going to make their numbers.

As I noted earlier, two of the job listings are for software developers for the company's healthcare robots, who are expected to develop Apps for the iPad, iPhone and Android.

iRobot Announces $14 million Aware 2 PackBot Upgrade

Another day, another big contract win for iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT). The company announced today a $14 million order for Aware 2 software upgrades to its fleet of xBot-class PackBot FasTac robots. It's exactly this kind of order that shows the importance of the company winning the initial $286 million xBot contract award, which originally went to Jameel Ahed, a former iRobot engineer who lost a lawsuit filed by iRobot contending that he had used iRobot technology in his Negotiator product. (The contract was then awarded to iRobot, and iRobot settled the suit and acquired Ahed's company's assets, including the Negotiator).

That contract, which prices xBot-class robots at a relatively cheap $70,000 a copy, enables the company to leverage higher-margin future software upgrades and maintenance fees while giving it greater scale in general, which is a key factor for smaller companies like iRobot.

According to the press release, iRobot Aware(R) 2 software allows for the implementation of "assistive autonomous operations, reducing operator workload and providing increased situational awareness." 

"We are pleased to be providing these important software upgrades and spares to the Army," Robert Moses, president of iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots division, said in the statement. "This will allow a more standardized fleet of robots that can accept additional upgrades in the future as new payloads are developed and autonomous capabilities increase. The order also ensures that these robots are properly maintained and ready to be deployed on the battlefield where they are saving lives every day."

Micro UAV swarm SMAVNET creates instant battlefield wireless network; duplicates iRobot Ember functionality

Illustration of EPFL's SMAVNET in action

Switzerland's EPFL lab is developing a Swarming Micro Air Vehicle Network (SMAVNET) that can create an instant, wireless communications network, similar to iRobot's Ember LANdroids swarm of small UGVs.

This duplicates the functionality of iRobot's Ember LANdroids project, although I suspect that a fleet of aerial vehicles will be far more expensive than the $100-a-copy expected price of Ember, and far more expensive to maintain. But who knows? You can buy a good remote-controlled helicopter for about that price. But early prototypes only last for about 30 minutes before their batteries run out of juice, which would have to be dramatically improved. An Ember is designed to stay in position for days without needing a recharge. I could also see a robotic air swarm simply being use to freak out and confuse an enemy, and there could easily be civilian applications as well, such as locating downed pilots or missing sailors in the ocean. (Are you reading, Coast Guard?) I could also see at some point in the future a huge network of cheap aerial drones providing close-in surveillance of Al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan, with  expensive, remote-piloted and armed Predator-style drones then zeroing in with missiles when the cheaper drones spot something interesting.

EPFL's developers are modeling their swarm on ant behavior, and using a radio version of pheromones to identify each of the swarm's flying robots. They also developed algorithms intended to ensure safe operation and collision avoidance, and received clearance from the Swiss authorities to test their swarms in non-line-of-sight operations. Their emphasis is on keeping the flying robots as simple and as cheap as possible, like the Ember. (Hmm, wondering if iRobot might be interested in commercializing this technology, like they have with the university-developed Seaglider?)

At any rate, this also seems like something that should catch the eye of iRobot cofounder Helen Greiner's CyPhy Works, which is developing small UAVs for such applications as bridge inspections.

Via Singularity Hub, which profiled the effort.

Australian Robotics Company Wins $50 Million for Creepy Robots to Train Soldiers

Marathon Robotics' Rover in Action

Marathon Robotics, an Australian company, won a $50 million contract in July to build moving, robotic live-fire targets for use by the Marines. The robots are intended to be used in training exercises to give the Marines realistic, moving targets to shoot at with real bullets.

Think of them as the Crash-Test Dummies for basic training. The video of the Rover system are downright creepy, like something out of a Robot Zombie movie. They have no arms or legs, and rely on a Segway two-wheeled platform. They can take a bullet hit, have sophisticated algorithms that make them unpredictable, can operate in all weather conditions, etc. I can imagine this system having a host of other uses, like scaring the heck out of the natives in a remote village, sort of like that scene in the Princess Bride where they scare the castle guard with a fake burning giant.

Here is the video:


Marathon's web site and press release is at this link.

SingularityHub posted something about this system back in April, before the $50 million contract was announced.