Tech
Dyson is working on chore-bots that can pick up after us
Dyson put out a video showing off robots tackling basic tasks like picking up dishes and toys, but most of the project remains top secret.
We can look forward to a future where we don’t have to do chores ourselves anymore, thanks to Dyson. The company offered a sneak peak into what its robotics department has been working on during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
Dyson said most of its robotics projects are still under wraps, but what we could see showed robots tackling all kinds of menial chores around the house, like picking up dishes or cleaning up toys on the ground. More specifically, Dyson said it wants to develop an “autonomous device capable of household chores and other tasks.”
Super secret — It looks like Dyson was very careful in revealing its R&D work, maybe for the fear that competitors like Roomba will get out in front of it. From the video we saw, Dyson has been working on robotic arms that can grab objects, like dishes, cups, bottles of dish soap, and toys, and map obstacles like furniture in 3D.
Dyson’s robotics department is also being expanded to four locations total, including its main London location, a laboratory near the Dyson Robotics Lab at Imperial College in London, Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire, and Dyson’s global headquarters in Singapore.
Embrace the future — Dyson’s teaser of its household chore robots was just as much a call for engineers as it was showing off whatever it could. The company said it has recruited 250 robotics engineers already and is looking to hire 700 more over the next five years to round out its growing robotics department.
Dyson sounds like it’s pretty invested in a future where our households are filled with autonomous chore-bots. I can already hear the grumbling comments: “Back in my day, we used to do all the chores ourselves.” But is doing boring, time-consuming chores really a hill we want to die on? I, for one, support any company’s efforts to make our lives easier.
