By Ann Roosevelt
iRobot [IRBT] is moving forward with a larger, powerful and rugged robot, the multi-mission, modular iRobot Warrior 700 that is very different from the more familiar PackBot and Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) also made by the company, according to a company official.
“It’s important because of its speed, its strength and mobility,” Joe Dyer, president of iRobot Government and Industrial Robots, told Defense Daily at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) annual conference in Washington, D.C, Oct. 8. ” Those three capability thrusts allow heavy lift, explosive ordnance disposal and drag.”
The Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC)–the nation’s laboratory for advanced military automotive technology–Oct. 2 awarded iRobot a $3.75 million research and development contract that will result in the delivery of two iRobot Warriors.
There were no Warriors to be seen at the iRobot display at AUSA because the prototypes are in high-tempo development, Dyer said.
“We believe it’s important to an emerging requirement,” Dyer said. “A great job for the warrior to be able to tote your stuff is an important role.” For logistics at the squad level, Warrior would become another squad member. Warrior is designed to travel as fast as 12 miles an hour, able to keep up with troops on the move.
The platform would also be valuable for the Navy in areas such as the dangerous work of firefighting on a flight deck.
Warrior is able to work in all weather, can travel rough terrain, climb stairs with full mobility and has an advanced digital architecture and a platform that can support up to 150-pound payloads.
iRobot now has three basic chassis: Warrior, the PackBot weighing in at about 50 pounds, and the SUGV, which weighs less than 30 pounds.
“Our secret to success, I believe, is the digital platform we use,” Dyer said. Ethernet interfaces give the capability to employ a variety of sensors. “The digital capability means our robots are like strike fighters–the F-18, F-16, JSF–what it does depends on how you outload it–for jamming, close air support of fighter missions. The digital capability gives the robots flexibility and capability.”
The robot platform with a CBRNE payload today can conduct explosive ordnance detection or route clearance tomorrow with different payloads. iRobot does not build the payloads. It searches out the best of industry for the particular customer need.
The iRobot design philosophy looks at the total life cycle, building reliability into the platform to reduce things such as spares buys, thus reducing life cycle costs over the long-term.
“iRobot wants to build the platform and be the robotic systems engineer,” Dyer said. Thus, once the customer buys the basic unit, it can be updated over time, and the company manages processing upgrades, power, memory and cooling, and facilitating shopping the market for the best payload sensors.
A little over four years ago, iRobot was producing six robots a month, “handbuilt by Phd.’s,” Dyer said. “Last month, we delivered 155 robots.”
The company is also moving into the maritime realm with unmanned, underwater vehicles, the Seaglider and Ranger, for oceanographic or military missions.