Dyson is rolling out its £2.75bn investment plan in new technology. The next 15 years will see a shift in emphasis from mechanical engineering to embedded software, cloud communication and robotics.
We’ve seen the first steps in that direction with the inclusion of software – specifically smart and responsive technology – in its recent launches.
Its current flagship cordless vacuum, the Dyson V15 Detect, has a piezo sensor that works in conjunction with an LCD screen to measure, count and display the number of dust particles vacuumed up.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The successor to the V15 Detect, the yet to be released Gen5detect, will build on this technology and give it a new twist: the vacuum cleaner will automatically increase or decrease its suction power in response to the volume of dust it detects.
In a video released by the company, Jake Dyson, chief engineer and son of founder James Dyson, described the software as “absolutely essential in every function we perform” and said of the company: “There are ten years ago there were probably about 50 software developers, now we are at about 650 worldwide.
The company plans to continue this hiring trend, with developers focusing on creating learning technologies and products that can identify and solve their own problems.
Jake Dyson explained the brand’s vision: “Imagine a world where the product is repaired within 24 hours or replaced before you even know something is wrong. We want to take that anxiety away from consumers.
But the connectivity will not only be used for individual cases of problem solving. There is another, and perhaps surprising, use. Dyson uses its connected air purifiers to collect data on a massive scale – something that has had far less publicity than its cordless cleaner innovations or even its tax avoidance schemes.
Dyson has been involved in air quality monitoring for several years, through its air quality backpack prototype and air quality containment studies. And, according to the video just released, Dyson is also tracking the air quality reports of the four million connected air purifiers it has sold. Every day, it receives 200 million air quality signals from these machines.
Jake Dyson said: “We’re probably the only ones in the world that have this feature of alerting people around sandstorms, wildfires or something like that.”
Dyson
In this context, Dyson’s announcement of the Zone, which surprised many Dyson fans, makes more sense. The Zone is a combination headset and personal air purifier. It draws in air, cleans it and directs it to the wearer’s mouth and nose. It should be released soon, but the launch date and price have not yet been announced.
As a connected product, the Zone could provide Dyson with millions of additional air quality data points as its users move around.
Yes, this is the strange world we live in, where a luxury home appliance brand can make an extraordinary pivot to become a global authority on air quality. What will he do in this role? We will have to wait and see.
You can watch the video and see Jake Dyson’s comments for yourself or find out what Tech Advisor’s Lewis Painter thought when he tried the Zone.
