Dyson put a human engine in his robot vacuum cleaner

Dyson, a company built on high-speed engineering, has proven that Seaside that his new robot vacuum doesn’t use a Dyson motor. The recently introduced Spot & Scrub Ai robot vacuum and mop “They’ve been reinvented,” said Nathan Lawson McLean, Dyson’s chief executive Seaside.

According to Lawson McLean, the device combines “new and existing technologies from Dyson and other platforms.” In particular, a new lidar-based navigation technology and a robot vacuum motor were developed by another team. “It’s not one of our V10 engines; it’s one of the companion technologies,” said Lawson McLean.

Of course Dyson has been helped with its latest robot vacuum has been suspected since the day it was announced at the end of last year. The Spot + Scrub is a complete departure from previous Dyson models and they have it obvious similarities to other commercial robots on the market. But this is the first time Dyson has it admitted that it helped develop its robotic vacuum.

Product development is not uncommon in the world of robot vacuum manufacturers or mass production. But for a company that built its brand on high-speed machines and cyclonic vacuum technology, it’s a remarkable move.

So, why did Dyson ditch its signature technology for its latest robot vacuum? Speed ​​is expensive, according to Lawson McLean. “We really wanted to enter the market in a new wet and dry and isolated environment,” he said. “And how can we do this quickly?” Answer: Get help.

While Dyson has been developing robotic floor cleaners since the early 2000sit has been years behind Chinese competitors such as Roborock and Ecovacs, and even US-based iRobot, maker of the Roomba. The latter made a the same pivot from vision-based systems to lidar last year, and working with a Chinese original design manufacturer Shenzhen Picea Robotics complete production the new line of Roombas.

Dyson would not confirm which partner he was working with, but Reddit artists and true companies discovered that Picea, which also works with Xiaomi, Anker (Eufy), and Shark, among others. (Picea recently bought iRobot after its destruction.)

Dyson’s first attempt at a robot vacuum – including the 360 Eye and 360 See Nav – displayed Dyson high speed motors. They were great vacuums, but they struggled to move on their own. Bots all work camera-based vSLAM travel, which was slow and unreliable.

With Spot + Scrub, Dyson worked with a “partner” to add reliable lidar navigation technology. Based on feedbackit has been a great upgrade. This change was essential for the company to remain competitive in a crowded market. But, inside, they also dropped Dyson’s best feature: its powerful motor.

Lawson McLean says this tradeoff only tells half the story. “We don’t just look at the motors. (…) the ducting, the inlet pressure, the outlet pressure, etc. for Spot + Scrub, they all have a huge amount of Dyson engineering wrapped around them,” he says.

Additionally, the robot is said to use “new and existing Dyson technologies,” including a Dyson-developed AI stain feature, a 12-point hydration system for self-cleaning water, and “Cyclonic” bagless dock – the industry’s first robotic dock.

But it’s still a Dyson vacuum without a Dyson motor, and in Seaside‘s tryThe Spot + Scrub’s vacuuming performance was worse than previous Dyson robots, especially on carpet.

Although he refused to share the road ahead, Lawson McLean also said that Dyson could be working on a robot that would better integrate Dyson’s motor technology and remove its legacy with advances in mopping technology, machine learning, and the main aspects of robotic vacuums. But Spot + Scrub is not like that. Instead, he says, it’s a “balance,” something designed to keep Dyson competitive in a market where it has so far failed to act.

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge