Innova Holdings and Mesa Robotics team up to integrate their products for military, homeland security and law enforcement arenas

Citation

(2007), "Innova Holdings and Mesa Robotics team up to integrate their products for military, homeland security and law enforcement arenas", Industrial Robot, Vol. 34 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2007.04934bab.003

Innova Holdings and Mesa Robotics team up to integrate their products for military, homeland security and law enforcement arenas

Innova Holdings and Mesa Robotics team up to integrate their products for military, homeland security and law enforcement arenas

Innova Holdings, Inc., a robotics and automation technology company providing software and hardware systems-based solutions to the service, personal, and industrial robotic markets, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mesa Robotics, Inc., that will integrate both companies' successful technologies and proven products to further the effectiveness of unmanned ground vehicles.

Mesa Robotics' rugged, reliable robotic vehicles are deployed in the US, Middle East and Japan, and also saw action in counter-explosives operations in Afghanistan. The companies plan to integrate the Innova Holdings patented robotic software solutions with Mesa's full line of unmanned ground vehicles, ACER, Matilda (Figure 2) and Marv. This combination of Microsoft Windows^® architecture with Mesa's rugged, versatile robots will result in state-of- the-art platforms applicable for military, government, Homeland Security, law enforcement and civilian markets.

Figure 2 Matilda at disaster city

“The combination of these companies' new `smart' products will add significant additional value across the full range of markets, including the military, where the potential to save lives is compelling” said Walter K. Weisel, Chairman and CEO of Innova Holdings. “What's exciting is that the new products that come out of this alliance will advance robotics development to a higher level than currently exists”.

“After surveying the field of robots, we found Mesa Robotics to have the very best range of vehicles to match current and emerging requirements for robots in military and civilian applications”.

Innova Holdings has exclusive rights for sales and marketing to the military, Homeland Security and commercial markets.

Mesa Robotics has a reputation for excellence in engineering, design, development and integration of robotic vehicles and robotic vehicle payloads. Its vehicles have a wide range of uses, including tactical, search and rescue, remote material transport, and counter- explosives operations including humanitarian demining.

“As demonstrated by our recent performance at a National Institute of Science and Technology sponsored robotics evaluation exercise at Texas A&M University, Matilda and Marv readily proved their ruggedness and reliability” said Don Jones, Vice President of Mesa Robotics, Inc. “Soon, with a Windows-based architecture, we're really going to have something phenomenal”.

“What's important to remember about Mesa's vehicles is that they have already proven to be successful in negotiating rubble, operating in harsh environments and saving lives. All of this at a lower-cost alternative to what's currently available today”.

The MOU is available on the Innova Holdings web site at: www.innovaholdings.com/MOU.pdf

For more information: Joseph Gonzales, Director of Corporate Communications, Innova Holdings Inc., 17105 San Carlos Blvd., A6-151 Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931, Tel: (239) 466-0488, extension 202, Fax: (239) 466-7270, e-mail: JGonzales@InnovaHoldings.com; web site: www.innovaholdings.com