By Ann Roosevelt
iRobot [IRBT] this week began deliveries of 22 of its Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles (SUGV) to the Army to complete an accelerated order for 25 that began in January, company officials said.
iRobot delivered three SUGVs in January to the Army Evaluation Task Force (AETF), Ft. Bliss, Texas, for training, Colin Angle, chief executive officer of iRobot said April 30 in the company’s first quarter earnings call.
The SUGV contract has risen over the past five years from $25 million in 2003 to more than $63 million to date, with a $6 million increase supporting the FCS decision to accelerate the SUGV program in January. This agreement was reached with FCS Lead Systems Integrator Boeing [BA] and SAIC [SAI] (Defense Daily, Jan. 18). This month’s delivery of 22 more SUGVs will incorporate upgrades, including sensors.
The AETF is evaluating FCS systems for acceleration into the current force, and will provide feedback to Army leadership going into a production decision likely in September.
Angle also announced iRobot has chosen Benchmark Electronics [BHE] as a second manufacturing source which will mitigate risk and add to a competitive cost structure.
iRobot reported revenue up 45 percent in the quarter driven mainly by its commercial business, while remaining cautious about the retail sector in the second half of the year.
“In the first quarter, we delivered our 15th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth,” Angle said. “We continue to see strong demand for our products in both divisions. Home Robot revenue was up 55 percent with significant increases in international home robot revenue from the first quarter of 2007. Government & Industrial revenue grew 35 percent in the first quarter from the first quarter a year ago.”
However the overall retail environment deteriorated. “Therefore, we are reiterating our expectations for first half 2008 financial performance and modifying our expectations for full year 2008 financial performance,” he said.
Revenues for the quarter grew to $57.3 million, compared with $39.5 million a year ago. The net loss was $4 million, 16 cents earnings per share (EPS), compared with a net loss in the first quarter of 2007 of $5.5 million (23 cents EPS).
Business highlights included the announcement of an award under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s LANdroids program to develop a new portable communications relay robot that is small, inexpensive, intelligent and robust.
The LANdroids goal is to develop technologies to enable the warfighter operating in dense urban environments to rapidly deploy and maintain a vital communications infrastructure.
There continues to be an “increased demand for PackBots both from the U.S. government and foreign customers,” Angle said. PackBots have played a part in conflict in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Under the X-bot contract–which the company was awarded after first losing out on the contract and then winning a court case against a former employee–PackBot deliveries have been made with a balance of units in the first order to be delivered this week, and another second delivery of 26 more this month, he said. The units have been “well received in theater,” and more orders are expected.
Helen Greiner, iRobot co-founder and Chairman of the board, said the company sees “tremendous” international market opportunity in the Government & Industrial and commercial units. Strong military robot sales came in Australia, Scandinavia and Singapore, with a pending U.S. Foreign Military Sale. The PackBot 510 and reconnaissance versions lead the way.
The company sees a market for the larger Warrior and small SUGV robots internationally, and they will have their first major demonstrations abroad this year. For instance in June there will be demonstrations at Eurosatory.