iRobot stock up on deal with Boeing
Shares of iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT) climbed in after-hours trading today after the Burlington, Mass.-based robot provider announced it has inked a deal with The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA).
The two firms plan to jointly develop and deliver a new, next-generation small unmanned ground vehicle to military, civil and commercial users. They also will jointly market the new SUGV Early robot. Boeing will provide systems integration, large-volume production and global marketing while iRobot will design, develop and manufacture the robot.
IRobot’s stock rose $1.04, or 6.9%, to $16.04 a share late today on the news. Shares have traded between $12.76 (on March 20) and $26.95 (on May 3, 2006) in the past year.
Weighing less than 30 pounds, the robot will be named SUGV Early and is designed to allow users to remotely conduct reconnaissance and secure real-time intelligence. It will be a smaller, lighter version of the iRobot PackBot, which is used in Iraq and Afghanistan to disarm improvised explosive devices and search buildings, caves and tunnels for hostile forces, according to iRobot.
The smaller size and varied capabilities will allow the technology to be used by a broader group of users than the current PackBot, said iRobot. For example, since the SUGV Early is lighter, it can be carried for longer distances.
In March, iRobot got a $2.8 million order for 22 bomb-disposal PackBot robots and spare parts from the German Federal Defense Force.
Founded in 1990, iRobot was spun out of research at MIT.
