Tumultuous times have offered some of the best opportunities to buy stocks, and the market's recent mess surely qualifies. And though robot designer iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) has already recovered from the recession, many investors expect even better times ahead.

In our Motley Fool CAPS community, about 89% of the 1,119 investors rating the company are bullish, so there's no shortage of reasons why iRobot will thrive, three of which I've highlighted below.

But here at The Motley Fool, we're all for looking at both the good and bad sides of an investment. Once you're done with this article, you can read the case against the stock, weigh in with your comments below, or rate iRobot in CAPS.

1. Strong performance
iRobot's most recent quarterly earnings, which showed strong financial results in both its major operating segments, only solidified some CAPS members' belief that iRobot has a big future ahead of it. It reported a 59% jump in revenue overall, helped by solid sales of both its home robots and government and industrial sales. The performance was more than good enough to add more cash to its debt-free balance sheet, another star quality that investors like.        

2. Unmanned war
Just as companies like Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), Textron (NYSE: TXT), and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) hope to benefit from the Pentagon's push for unmanned systems to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, investors see more battlefield opportunities ahead for iRobot's unmanned robots. It added to its recent run with 65% growth in government and industrial revenue in the second quarter and recently scored another order with partner Boeing (NYSE: BA) for more of its small unmanned ground vehicles from the U.S. Army.

3. Expanding its reach
While BP (NYSE: BP) has been using robots from Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII) to help repair its Macondo well at extreme depths, iRobot's Seaglider robot was put to use by university scientists to collect ocean data surrounding the BP leak. CAPS members see many more alternative applications of iRobot's technology and like the strategy of investing in a wide range of other useful applications, like its recently formed health-care business unit.

To see details of what CAPS members are saying now about iRobot, just click on over to Motley Fool CAPS and have a look, or add your own thoughts in the comments box below on this page.