WASHINGTON, 12 Aug. 2009. Officials at iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) announced that the company won a $5.1 million order from the U.S. Army TACOM Contracting Center in Warren, Mich., for its unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).

The order calls for the delivery of 14 iRobot PackBot 510 with FasTac Kit robots and spare parts. Spare parts include manipulator arms, cameras, and rugged laptops.

The PackBot 510 with FasTac Kit is a lighter weight alternative to other Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) robots. It is used by soldiers and Marines in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The robot gives warfighters the ability to investigate areas and suspicious objects using its cameras and other sensors. Video and information are sent back to the operator through a ruggedized laptop, providing safer standoff distances.

"One of the reasons these robots are so important is that they have the ability to perform the role of point man on the battlefield," says Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government and Industrial Robots. "Warfighters can send the robot into a potentially dangerous area first. This gives them the opportunity to assess the situation from a safe place and allows more time to make decisions accordingly. This is particularly important as the threat from roadside bombs continues to rise in Afghanistan."

iRobot has delivered more than 2,500 PackBot robots that make a difference every day by conducting dangerous missions that keep warfighters out of harm's way.

This is the eleventh order under the $286 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) xBot contract, bringing the total contract value to approximately $86 million. The xBot contract has been moved from the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) to the U.S. Army TACOM Contracting Center.