iRobot has received an order worth $4 million for 110 FirstLook unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and accessories from the US Navy, the company announced on 19 August. All the deliveries will be completed by February 2016.
The rugged iRobot 110 FirstLook is a compact and expandable 5lb UGV that can investigate and manipulate dangerous and hazardous materials, perform persistent observation, and provide immediate situational awareness, all while keeping the operator safe.
It can integrate third-party sensors for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and hazardous material defence missions and can support thermal imagers. It is also capable of being equipped with a Small Lightweight Manipulator to interact with the environment.
Tom Frost, senior vice president and general manager, iRobot’s Defense & Security business unit, said: ‘iRobot is pleased to provide these state-of-the-art robots to the US Navy as they will help to address a wide variety of missions.
‘FirstLook is light enough and rugged enough to be thrown through a window or down a flight of stairs, and its capabilities are expandable with the addition of different payloads. We believe FirstLook is the most capable robot in its weight class.’
As countries increasingly move away from Chinese drone manufacturing and focus on domestic production and collaboration, Europe and the US are well-placed to step in – although cost remains a crucial consideration.
Although the Replicator initiative has made several accomplishments, there are still multiple gaps to plug across the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its services.
Cummings Aerospace presented its turbojet-powered Hellhound loitering munition at SOF Week 2025, offering a man-portable solution aligned with the US Army’s LASSO requirements.
PDW has revealed its Attritable Multirotor First Person View drone at SOF Week 2025, offering special operations forces a low-cost, rapidly deployable platform for strike and ISR missions, inspired by battlefield lessons from Ukraine.
Teledyne FLIR is highlighting the emerging requirements for 'recoverable and re-usable' loitering munitions across the contemporary operating environment during this week’s SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida.
High-performance maritime industry player Kraken Technology Group, based in the UK, has used the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida this week to debut its K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel (USV) to the North American market.
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