Mar 3 2011
The only invention that emerged victorious following the cancellation of the United States Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is the unmanned ground vehicle built by iRobot.
According to iRobot chairman and CEO, Colin Angle, this Army program offered the company several opportunities to develop advanced business strategies for success.
Brian Ruttenbur, an analyst at Morgan Keegan, stated that iRobot witnessed a 70% rise in revenue after it targeted the urban crowd for promoting its compact vacuuming robot, the Roomba. He also declared that iRobot faces no major competition in the United States when it comes to manufacturing military unmanned ground vehicles. However, on the international front, iRobot has granted its 50-50 joint venture with Foster-Miller, a U.S. unit of QinetiQ, which builds the Talon robot.
Robert Moses, president of iRobot's Government and Industrial Robots Division, stated that the FCS contract was a key strategic business move for iRobot. He also added that the FCS contract enabled the company to become a large contractor for defense projects throughout the United States.
iRobot has developed core competency for designing robots and the manufacturing operations are outsourced to low-cost companies. The company won the FCS contract for the Small Manned Ground Vehicle with the development of the PackBot.
Source: http://www.irobot.com/