This robot can do the dishes (without breaking anything)

Washing dishes, putting away toys and cleaning a sofa are just some of the household tasks that a future autonomous robot from Dyson could one day perform. The British manufacturer, which specializes in premium household appliances including vacuum cleaners, air purifiers and the Supersonic hairdryer, is moving into robotics with a particularly ambitious program.

After the pizza-making robot and the automatic bartender, here comes the autonomous household helper. And this time, it's Dyson that's driving the project, with a new robotics division that's growing fast. To showcase the progress of its work, Dyson has posted a video presenting the latest prototypes under development in its laboratories.

It was at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Philadelphia that Dyson unveiled its work on these intriguing robots. The manufacturer is proving highly ambitious, and wants to develop an autonomous robot capable of performing several household tasks on its own. The machines in development can, in any case, grab objects and manipulate them in order to put them away or clean them, for example. One of them is even capable of intelligently loading a dishwasher.

Despite sharing this short video, Dyson remains somewhat mysterious about the state of its progress. If these robots could one day be used in our homes, they will probably first be offered in professional settings, in the restaurant industry, for example. In the meantime, Dyson wants to recruit several hundred experts to help develop these solutions.

Note that Dyson caused a sensation earlier this year by presenting the very first audio headphones that also act as an air purifier, and vice versa. In addition to mitigating noise pollution, these headphones also promise protection from gases, allergens, viruses and other fine particles that can be hazardous for health. However, it is not expected to be released before 2023.

Check out Dyson's robot prototypes in this video: youtu.be/2Bh61aY8ncg

© Agence France-Presse