Dyson Invests £5 Million To Create 'Intelligent Domestic Robots'

DavidGilbert99 writes "James Dyson only releases products he is 100% happy with, which is why, despite nearly a decade of research in the area, his company has yet to release a robotic vacuum cleaner. To help drive research forward, he will invest £5 million in a joint research lab at Imperial College London which will focus on 'vision systems,' which Dyson hopes will help create the next generation of 'intelligent domestic robots.'" Last week Dyson proposed that the UK government offer monetary incentives to students with an interest and aptitude in science.

Comments

This is the problem with engineering these days

[Anonymous Coward]

Working hard to solve non-existent problems that any reasonable human being doesn't give two craps about. Unless you live in a 60,000 sq. ft. mansion, in which case you already have "vision system vacuum cleaners": they're called indentured illegal immigrants.

In the meantime, the rest of use in our 600 sq. ft. urban condos made of ersatz materials can easily vacuum the damn place ourselves in 5 minutes. It's not a big deal, it's not a problem that urgently needs solving.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[Viol8]

It technology didn't try and solve problems that don't really exist then most of us would be out of a job :o)

Seriously - in a western society where everyone is well fed and healthy and has access to 24/7 entertainment there is nothing vital that (non health related) technology or science can add to our existence - its all toys, gadgets and gizmos that are a brief amusement until they get tossed in landfill and then we all go out and buy the next piece of crap.

Welcome to the consumerism - the 21st century solution to the phony requirement of constant economic "growth".

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[JaredOfEuropa]

I can vacuum myself but I'd prefer a robot if it did a good job. In my old apartment, a Roomba did a decent job of keeping the place free of cat hairs etc; the only problem was that its battery was crap (even the new Roombas still use NiMH batteries). It's nice to come home to a clean house instead of having to vacuum after a day of work.

I wonder what Dyson will come up with this time. He's not that good at inventing new stuff; none of his flagship products (the cyclone vacuum, the Air Blade dryer, the bladeless fan) were invented by him. But he is good at packaging them into usable products of decent quality.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[rmstar]

Seriously - in a western society where everyone is well fed and healthy and has access to 24/7 entertainment there is nothing vital that (non health related) technology or science can add to our existence - its all toys, gadgets and gizmos that are a brief amusement until they get tossed in landfill and then we all go out and buy the next piece of crap.

That's not entirely true. There is a lot of cancer to be cured, and cured painlessly. Having a longer period of livable life would be very desirable, which includes delaying decrepitude as well as making old age more livable. There is a lot of sientific advance possible and desirable in those areas.

A piece of robot kit able to navigate a typical human dwelling would be a fantastic achievement upon which a lot could be built, not just vacuum cleaners. That said, I don't believe that you can make breakthroughs happen just by sprinkling money on scientists, especially a lump sum like this 5 million pounds.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[GodfatherofSoul]

Ah, one of those "faster horse" types, I see...

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[serviscope_minor]

Seriously?

I mean I'm sure I'll hate beta as much as the next old git (I've not tried it), but this it taking ludditism to a whole new level on a tech site. Seriously they're building robots. ROBOTS.

With AI. Real AI that solves a REALLY FUCKING HARD problem.

And you're all dismissing it as consumerist crap.

Please return your nerd card. It has been revoked.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[BasilBrush]

He's not that good at inventing new stuff; none of his flagship products (the cyclone vacuum, the Air Blade dryer, the bladeless fan) were invented by him.

Oh FFS, why are slashdotters so deluded about what inventions are and what inventors do. No product inventor creates something from first principles. They all use existing technology. It's how that technology is applied to something new that makes an invention.

Dyson made the first bagless cyclone vac. If you think that's not true, you have to explain why the other vac companies had to wait for the expiration of Dyson't patents before they could make their competitor bagless cyclone vacs.

Making the first bagless cyclone vac is invention. Regardless of the fact that elements of it existed in other devices before.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[Alioth]

Humans wash dishes pretty damned well, but dishwashers are pretty popular despite this. Labour saving devices and appliances to do things we can do, but find boring, are pretty popular things.

And yes - something to help care for the elderly. We have nurses but they are so expensive that only the rich can afford to have them to care for them in their own home. A robot that can help out with various tasks can mean an elderly person of normal means can retain their independence for a bit longer at their own home, instead of being sent to an expensive nursing home where in many cases they get treated like dirt.

The point of machines is not just to do things we can't do, but to do things we don't like doing, or is expensive for a human to do.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[cellocgw]

But what is the point in a machine that simply replaces something a humans already do almost perfectly

You ever hear of a thing called an "assembly line" ? Rather a lot of people are in fact *happy* to retrain for a job which does NOT entail repeating a boring action 500 times a day, week upon week, year after year.

Or at the other extreme: people can fly a plane almost perfectly. Now explain why there shouldn't be autopilots.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[CastrTroy]

As somebody with Kids, I can tell you why this doesn't work. Because half the trouble with vacuuming is cleaning up all the stuff that you don't want vacuumed up in the first place. Sure you could just suck up all the Lego bricks in the vacuum, but something going to clog it, and then it won't be picking up anything. That, and the kids will start crying. This is the same problem that I have with dishwashers. By the time you sufficiently rinsed the dishes that you're assured that the dishwasher won't leave any food on the dish which will be there forever after it's baked on by the dry cycle, you might as well have washed the dishes by hand.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[SleazyRidr]

He's the Steve Jobs of the vacuum world. He takes what other people have done and packages them up nicely enough for an insanely popular consumer product. Sure, it's not the ugly guy in his garage kind of innovation that a lot of people around here would like to imitate, but it's the kind of innovation that pushes the world forward.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[wiredlogic]

Dyson made the first bagless cyclone vac.

No he didn't. Cyclonic separators are nearly 100 years old. They have been commonly used for industrial vacuums and central vacs before Dyson came around. He may have some patents on implementation variations but the real reason why the competition waited is because the home appliance industry is slow to adapt to "new" technologies if they can continue to sell old products for a profit. They aren't accustomed to 6-month product cycles. Witness how long it took for electronic controls to replace mechanical timers on consumer washers and dryers.

Re:This is the problem with engineering these days

[Agent0013]

I don't know about him being the Steve Jobs of vacuums. Maybe he took some principles that were in use previously, but he did have to refine them quite a bit to get them to work in the vacuum. The original cyclone filter was used to remove sawdust from the air in lumber mills. He had to make thousands of versions over several decades before he got a vacuum that worked. That sounds a little more involved that simply taking something that's already been done and put it into a vacuum.

I'm not covinced by Dyson

[Viol8]

He had one big hit with a bagless vacuum cleaner and he's been dining out on that every since. I'm not convinced he's really the man to usher in the next generation of AI.

Aside from that, from what I've read in interviews he really has next to know knowledge of how normal people think or act since he seems to be of the opinion that everyone will be blissfully happy being put out of work by a robot.

Yes , I know , luddites etc , but you can't always generate new jobs to replace old ones that have succummed to tech - at some point you're going to put a lot of people out of a job and then what?
And don't someone come up with the BS about everyone will sit around in blissful nirvana writing poetry or music or coding or go kayaking all day. It ain't going to happen.

Re:I'm not covinced by Dyson

[GodfatherofSoul]

That "big hit" was pretty damned big, and he's had a lot of other cool inventions. They might not be so visible to you if you haven't looked up his product line. Dyson also came up with a better hand-dryer and he's even topped it with one with the hand-dryer AT the faucet. I really like the way the guy thinks. He has the ability to drop all preconceived notions about technology and start from scratch.

Re:I'm not covinced by Dyson

[ranton]

" Dyson also came up with a better hand-dryer and he's even topped it with one with the hand-dryer AT the faucet"

Ah , of course! *Obviously* anyone who comes up with a new dryer and connects it to the plumbing is the #1 go-to man to develop bleeding edge AI! Watch out all those teams at MIT and Harvard and elsewhere who've been working on this problem for decades - our Jim will have it sorted as soon as he's come up with his wall mounted potato peeler.

Are you kidding with this? He isn't using this money to pay himself to solve the problem alone. He is spending it on hiring those software engineers from MIT and Harvard and elsewhere who've been working on this problem for decades.

Anyone willing to spend money to fund this research is a good thing. Any time that money is spent by a company with a good track record of creating innovative products is even better.

100% satisfaction and 10 years later?

[schneidafunk]

Sounds like Duke Nukem Forever.

"We've got another one, Captain."

[StefanJ]

"Flesh stripped from their bones, like they were attacked by a super-powerful vacuum."

"Damn. Third one this week."

"Place sure is tidy, though."

What I'd want in a robotic vacuum

[mark-t]

We have pets, and have to vacuum a lot And what I've found, in particular, is that small and lightweight vacuums can't begin to cope with it... in my experience, the cartridge needs to be emptied about every 15 minutes for suction to be maintained, so we have to use a full-sized vacuum, with a full-sized bag, which we need to replace about once every 3 to 4 weeks. In light of that, what I'd want in a robotic vacuum is one that can automatically empty its own canister into a larger bin at its charging station whenever the robot's canister is full, such that the larger bin at the recharging station only has to be emptied out maybe every week or so, at most.

It would also be ideal for my situation if it could both a) handle carpet and tile/hardwood with equal efficacy; and b) do stairs, handling all the floors in a multilevel home or loft apartment.

When somebody invents a robotic vacuum that can do that...well...then... insert the shut-up-and-take-my-money gif here.

Re:What I'd want in a robotic vacuum

[CastrTroy]

Turn off the beater bar (usually a switch for this) when doing non-carpeted floors and you should be able to vacuum up that stuff no problem. If that still doesn't work, most vacuums make the hose easily detachable so you can vacuum up the big bits without a problem.

Re:Do not want.

[Soulskill]

We're aware of how poorly nested comments render on small screen widths. It's one of the things we have to fix.

FWIW, we do have a dedicated mobile version, and cases like this are one of the reasons the classic site is still around, and will be around for a long time yet.

I'm sorry it's not usable on your devices yet, but we're working to finish it, and definitely not ignoring those use-cases.

Re:$8,500,000 ?

[davester666]

Why the hell isn't he working on the Dyson Sphere yet?

Re:And

[SleazyRidr]

Maybe once the boycotters leave we can read /. in peace again.