iRobot looks to upgrade battlefield robots
Bedford's iRobot Corp. said it moving ahead on research to improve its battlefield robots after receiving a grant from the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise, a unit of the US Department of Defense.
The company declined to disclose the amount of that grant.
In 2007, iRobot was awarded a $286 million military contract to make up to 3,000 battlefield robots, or unmanned ground vehicles, for the Army over the next five years. (To read a Globe story about that, please click here.)
The company calls its battlefield robots PackBots and says about 2,600 have been delivered around the world, including some to police departments. In such war zones as Iraq and Afghanistan, the robots can be used to scout hostile terrain and look for explosive devices without military personnel being put at immediate risk.
As it looks to incorporate "next-generation" technologies into its unmanned ground vehicle, iRobot said it will be looking to enhance the capabilities of battlefield robots to detect enemy snipers. Researchers will also be seeking to improve robot sensors and giving the robots' arms a "sense of touch" that gives important feedback to the remote operators of the vehicles, iRobot said.
The photo of a PackBot that accompanies this post was provided by the company.
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