The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office awarded iRobot Corp. of Bedford, Mass., S3.3 million to develop a new vanguard of combat robots intended to assist soldiers pushing into hostile territory.rnThe U.S. military intends to develop a soft, flexible and mobile robot capable of finding and maneuvering through openings smaller than its structural dimensions, moving rat-like dirough complex and cluttered battlefield environments. The company will lead a team composed of leading technical experts from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to incorporate advances in chemistry, materials science, actuators, electronics, sensors and fabrication techniques into the engineering process.
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