nology; and · the acquisition of Nekton Research, LLC, an unmanned underwater robot and technology company based in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
Buying In
In making the strategic decision to enter the subsea market at this time, Dyer reasoned that development in both unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles -- developments that fought through much resistance and took many years -- have, in essence, cleared the path for additional use of robotics commercially, and the company believes that UUVs are the next emerging market. iRobot was born from R&D, and today it ensures that the R&D side of its business stays well-funded and focused on continually improving its products. If government-funded research is combined with its own internal investment, the research efforts going on at iRobot are about 14 to 15% of revenue, Dyer said. "It's time to make significant investment in emerging technologies that are going to have wide ranging influence from military to agriculture." In June 2008, iRobot announced a sole licensing agreement with UW TechTransfer at the University of Washington to commercialize Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Seaglider technology previously supported by the ONR and the NSF. At the time of the agreement, Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot said "We have a strong track record for transferring new technology from research initiatives into products that support military missions. Ten years ago we transformed the original PackBot into a combat-proven robot used today by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and licensing the Seaglider from the University of Washington will help our robots conquer new underwater frontiers." In September of 2008, iRobot announced its deal to
acquire Nekton Research, an unmanned underwater robot and technology company based in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. "Nekton, culturally, is iRobot of four or five years ago," said Dyer. In succinctly summarizing the Nekton acquisition, Dyer said "Nekton reminded me of the mattress I had in college, I was thick where it was thin." In particular, iRobot was drawn to Nekton's diversity of work and the depth of its technical knowledge base. Dyer said "We were skinny in hydrodynamics and designing underwater systems. This acquisition put us on the fast track by 18 to 24 months (in comparision to 'home growing' the technology internally)." Nekton has for the past six years supported customers such as the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Undersea Warfare Command (NUWC), the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The agreement included a cash payment of $10m with the potential for additional consideration of up to $5m, based on the achievement of certain business and financial milestones. At the time of the deal, Dyer said "We are excited to have the opportunity to acquire a company with such a successful history of innovation and insight in the underwater vehicle space. Nekton's Ranger will be a strong complement to the Seaglider we have licensed from the University of Washington. With these two unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) we will be better positioned to meet the needs of our customers." Ranger is an A-sized, man-portable UUV that supports technology development related to mine warfare, expeditionary warfare, homeland defense, underwater surveillance/reconnaissance and other missions. Ranger is also well suited for ocean research and commercial applications related to search and survey.
iRobot last year acquired a sole licensing agreement with UW TechTransfer at the University of Washington to commercialize Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Seaglider tech. 32 MTR March 2009
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