Techno takeover: how machines are helping Dyson to shape its future
▶ The company’s R&D centre in Singapore is a playground for innovation
In one lab engineers test how well a hair dryer works on real human hair. In another, a robot vacuum cleaner navigates a maze of obstacles with ease, while in a third, a soundproofed acoustics chamber, microphones test for noise.
Welcome to Dyson’s technology centre in Singapore, a US$587 million (Dh2.15 billion) playground for innovation and technological advancement that opened in February.
The centre has placed the UK company known for its vacuums firmly into the frontier areas of artificial intelligence and robotics.
Dyson is now spending $9m a week in research and development, and holds thousands of patents. But it is not hard to see where the money goes.
Take the acoustics chamber for example. The room is covered in absorptive wedges and when you stand inside it is eerily silent. Microphones then trap the noise coming from its machines.
Dyson says it is “obsessive” about reducing the noise of its machines and this approach has allowed it to make the Supersonic one of the quietest hairdryers in the world.
Or take Dyson’s connected studio lab. Here is where Dyson is working on combining hardware with software, incorporating artificial intelligence, robotics, sensors and mobile apps.
At the heart of this is the 360 Eye robot vacuum cleaner. Other robot vacuums blindly and randomly clean the floor. But this has a 360-degree camera and Dyson has developed algorithms to let the robot learn and decide which is the best way to clean a room.
Motion capture technology as seen in films such as Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes also allows engineers to track the robot’s movement and improve navigation.
“Performance-wise we’ve got it there in terms of how much dirt it picks up,” says Scott Maguire, the company’s global engineering director.
“But in terms of versatility, can it go upstairs? Can it get under every single piece of furniture and all the nooks and crannies you could get into with a hand-held vacuum?
“These things cannot yet. These are going to change massively.”
Dyson’s footprint in the Middle East is also increasing. This year it opened one of its “demo stores” in Dubai Mall – the first in the Middle East and Africa. There visitors can see and test products such as the Supersonic hairdryer, the Dyson V6 vacuum, bladeless fans and air purifiers.
Dyson products do not come cheap. Take the Supersonic hair dryer for example. It may be the result of a $65m investment in the science of hair but it will cost you Dh1,499.
Or take the “Pure Cool” purifier. Dyson says it will remove 99.95 per cent of allergens and pollutants from the air but it will set you back Dh2,199.
The 360 Eye isn’t available in the UAE yet but could be the clearest example of how we might see AI and robots used in the home.
Dyson is now moving beyond making simple hardware products and this week the company revealed it is developing an electric car.
It is investing $1.9bn into future technology over four years, so it is safe to assume that even more interesting developments are on the cards.
The company is now spending $9m a week on research and development as well as investing $1.9bn in future technology