The military will begin using an explosive-sniffing robot that will allow soldiers to better detect roadside bombs. iRobot is fulfilling its first order of 100 Packbots for the US military. These robots are equipped with the new ICx Fido explosive detectors. Well, roadside bombs have led to 70 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq. At present, soldiers are using 5,000 robots in Iraq and Afghanistan to detect mines and dig out roadside and car bombs. iRobot has given out 385 robots last year, compared to 252 in 2005. Bill Thomasmeyer, head of the National Center for Defense Robotics has said that the government will pay out about $1.7 billion on ground-based military robots between fiscal 2006 and 2012. The Fido, which is an updated version of Packbot rocks rubber treads, lights, video cameras, obstacle-hurdling flippers and jointed manipulator arms to disable or destroy bombs. Each unit is priced at $165,000.