Dyson reveals its big bet … robots

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Dyson has signalled it is placing a "big bet" on producing robots capable of household chores by 2030, as it looks to move beyond the vacuum cleaners, fans and dryers that made its founder one of the wealthiest British businessmen.

The company, founded by billionaire Sir James Dyson, on Wednesday published photographs of robot arms being used in household settings, including cleaning furniture, a claw picking up plates, and a hand-like machine picking up a teddy bear.

While those may not sound like major achievements, robots still struggle with many actions that represent simple tasks for humans, such as grasping fragile objects or dealing with unfamiliar obstacles. Solving those and other problems could create new markets for the company.

Dyson wants to build the UK's largest robotics research centre at its Hullavington Airfield site, close to its design centre in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. However, other recruits will also be based in a London laboratory as well as in Singapore.

James Dyson, whose net worth is £23bn, according to the Sunday Times, controversially moved the company's HQ to Singapore in early 2019 despite championing the prospects of Britain's manufacturing industry after Brexit, which he backed prominently.

The Hullavington site had been planned as the location to develop an electric car. However, despite initially believing its car could be Dyson's next big product, the effort was abandoned at the prototype stage because of concerns over profitability.

Dyson, which made revenues of £6bn and profits before various costs of £1.5bn in 2021, had said it would spend £2.75bn from 2020 to 2025 - including £600m this year - to launch new products and research technologies, including robotics and batteries.

Dyson announced at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Philadelphia that 2,000 people have joined it in 2022, half of which are engineers.

It said it plans to recruit a further 700 robotics engineers in fields such as computer vision, machine learning, sensors and mechatronics over the next five years.

Robots are widely used in controlled situations such as on factory production lines, but have yet to break into homes in any significant way beyond the niche but growing market for robotic vacuum cleaners.

Dyson has already launched several robotic vacuums in the past, although its bestsellers remain cordless handheld models.

Jake Dyson, the son of the founder who now works as the company's chief engineer, said: "This is a 'big bet' on future robotic technology that will drive research across the whole of Dyson, in areas including mechanical engineering, vision systems, machine learning and energy storage."