Automaton

In this month's issue of Spectrum magazine, Erico covered the dispute between iRobot and Robotic FX bidding on the US Army xBot contract. Though the lawsuit is still in court, the Army has already moved: iRobot issued a press release this morning announcing that they had been awarded the contract. While iRobot's press release doesn't mention Robotic FX, they do acknowledge that they weren't just the lowest bidder:

"iRobot was selected to fulfill the contract as the lowest priced, technically qualified bidder deemed able to deliver as a responsible contractor."

This is a huge contract for iRobot. To date they've delivered about 1200 PackBots, and this contract could mean an order of up to 3000 over the next few years.