Dyson spends £468m on AI, battery and robot research

DYSON spent a record £468m on researching advanced household robots and artificial intelligence last year, as its annual revenues surged to more than £7bn.

Profits at the company rose by 9pc to £1.4bn in 2023 following a drop in the previous year.

The engineering company, best known for its vacuum cleaners, increased its spending on developing new products to £9m a week, up 40pc on the previous year. Investments are focused on robotic technologies, AI and longer-lasting batteries.

Revenues hit £7.1bn, up from £6.5bn, despite the impact of closing its Russian business and supply chain disruptions. The results came as Sir James Dyson, 76, revealed the company’s new Airstrait hair straighteners at an event in Paris.

Last year, Dyson launched its first wearable product – an air purifier mask with headphones – and a new robot cleaner. Sir James said that “2023 was a very good year, in which we made record investments in our technology, in new products and in the global resilience of the company”.

Last year, the business, which is headquartered in Singapore, announced plans to spend £100m building a new technology centre in Bristol. It has been recruiting hundreds of engineers to an R&D centre at Hullavington Airfield in Wiltshire, where it is working on developing household robots.

While much of its research remains secret, it has previously shown off experimental robots that can clean up around the house or load a dishwasher.

Sir James’s son, Jake Dyson, has said that robots and wearables are the future of the business.