never mind found this on a BLOG
Robotic FX gets $279 MILLION Robot Order, iRobot PackBot Gets ZILCH!!!
This is HUGE news, and HUGELY BAD for iRobot, sad to say folks. Robotic FX, essentially a startup run by a former iRobot engineer, just swiped a BLOCKBUSTER $279 MILLION defense contract out from under iRobot's nose! Defense News covers the deal at this link. Jameel Ahed, president of Robotic FX and a former iRobot engineer, is quoted: “This procurement was competed on a two-step technically acceptable, low price basis and we are very excited to have won. We look forward to producing our high-quality, easy-to-operate robots for our soldiers."
So I guess we now know why iRobot launched their legal case against Robotic FX and their Negotiator robot! iRobot must have known a few weeks ago that they weren't going to get the contract and so filed suit. This is a VERY big problem for iRobot, because their chief competitor to date, Foster-Miller, has been getting tons of big contracts of late, more than iRobot. And here, the Negotiator and Robotic FX have totally cleaned up in the 40-45 pound weight class heretofore dominated by the iRobot PackBot family. I have to say I'm totally deflated. There are still lots of reasons to like the stock -- the coming SUGV, Roomba sales, new home robots, but iRobot's bread-and-butter military product just got WHACKED. Given that the Negotiator costs less than the PackBot, iRobot better win that lawsuit! Robotic FX will now attract more capital and talent, etc., and may now have the ability to go public and cause the whole market's margins to shrink into commodity-hood. I may go skulk for the rest of the weekend. Any legal experts out there to brighten my mood?
UPDATE: It's pretty clear that the business plan of Robotic FX is to copy as much of iRobot's business plan as possible without directly violating any laws, and then undercut iRobot on price. The contract appears to be about $93,000 per robot, while iRobot's PackBots have generally been in the $120K-$150K range. (Robotic FX even has a FIDO attachment!) Yuck. Just Yuck.
UPDATE 2: Posters on the Yahoo Message Board have found links showing that Jameel Ahed:
1) Drives a DeLorean.
2) Appears to have the same office address as a dentist also named Ahed, possibly his father.
3) Robotic FX is listed as having 8 employees. That may be an old number, but Jeez! |
