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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon on Friday awarded Robotic FX Inc. a $279.9 million order for an initial 101 robots to be used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to detect explosive devices and roadside bombs. The Defense Department placed an urgent request to the industry in mid-July to deliver more of these lifesaving robots. The agency wants 1,000 more of these explosive-detection robots by the end of this year, and has left open the possibility of ordering 2,000 more by 2012. The Pentagon has already delivered nearly 5,000 of these robots to the battlefield. Several companies including iRobot Inc., Foster-Miller Inc. -- which makes Talon robots -- and Exponent Inc. -- which makes the "MARCbot" -- have supplied the Pentagon with counter-explosive detection robots. Alsip, Ill.-based Robotic FX will be expected to deliver the first batch of robots within 10 days of the contract award, according to the July government notice. Shares of iRobot fell 10 cents in extended trading, after shares fell 61 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $23.62. Shares of Exponent fell 21 cents to $25.01 in after-hours trading, after shares fell a penny to $25.22.
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