When you hear the name Dyson, you probably first think of a vacuum cleaner or hairdryer. But this company has also launched some quirky things, such as a pig table lamp and, last but not least, the Dyson Zone – noise-canceling headphones with a personal air filtration system.
What many do not know, however, is that the British company also devotes many resources to research and investment in robotics technology and artificial intelligence.
Even Dyson itself, which recently came out with a boastful message about its particular interest in robots, talks about researching things at least ten years ahead.
We see a robotic arm that can pick up toys off the floor and put them in a box, a robotic arm that can cover a table, and a robotic arm that can map and vacuum a sofa chair. Right now, it looks like such a robot would take up about as much space as the armchair itself. Still – it can at least do something that our current robotic vacuum cleaner is incapable of.
One of Dyson’s research areas is the possibility of using more advanced robots in normal households. However, this means that the robot must be safe from its environment. That means it must be able to interpret and “understand” the environment well, and it must be able to adapt constantly. This is especially important in a home that is also inhabited by humans and animals.
With plans to hire nearly a thousand robotics engineers in the next five years, Dyson certainly can not keep up, but in a few years, we may have to look for a robot butler.
