Date: Mar 07, 0202 Source:
HAMMONTON, NJ --- A team consisting of Airtrax, Inc., General Dynamics Armament Systems of Burlington, VT, and several other contractors has been selected for an award for under the US Office of Naval Research Future Naval Capabilities Broad Agency Announcement issued in the fall of 2001.
Airtrax and General Dynamic's concept is for a semi autonomous omni directional material handling robot that can move cargo from the topside areas to spaces within the ship with a minimum of human oversight. Airtrax's omni directional vehicle technology is a fundamental building block of this system.
A contract should be in place within a few weeks, and is dependent on the workload of the ONR contracting officer and staff. The contract will consist of a base and option periods of approximately 12 months each. The total contract value will be about $3.3M of which Airtrax expects to receive $755K in the base and optional period.
Barney Harris, Vice President and Director of Airtrax Defense Services Division noted that "...only ten awards were made from over forty responses to the Navy's BAA," and adds that "...this brings Airtrax another step closer to supplying the Navy with omni directional shipboard material handling products."
Airtrax is also developing product lines incorporating omni-directional vehicle technology for use in material handling, construction, health care, and entertainment. Airtrax is currently completing final development of its ATX Series commercial omni directional forklifts. Airtrax is incorporating the patented (US Patent 6,340,065) wheel technology into all of its products.
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