Dyson’s chief engineer says home robots are coming way sooner than you think

Dyson has just launched its most unusual product yet, a toothbrush with a built-in camera that fires a jet of water at exactly the right spot in your mouth instead of flossing.

It’s called the CameraJet, and it’s the result of years of research, with the goal of improving our Oral care – a long way from the bagless vacuum the company made famous over 30 years ago.

“We spent six years with about 500,000 mouths and teeth researching what’s wrong with your gums, your teeth, but also the variation of teeth, gums and gaps in people’s mouths,” Jake Dyson, the company’s Chief Engineer and son of founder James Dyson, told nine.com.au.

"Through that many images, using AI, we're able to train the camera to detect the exact point in that gap and then fire that jet instantaneously, instead of flossing."

It's a fitting example of how Dyson works. Rather than bolting new features onto old products, the company spends years researching the underlying problem first, the same approach it took with hair before building its haircare range.

But chat with Jake Dyson - son of the company founder Sir James Dyson and the conversation quickly moves from teeth to something much bigger, the robots he believes will soon be living in our homes.

‘It’s going to happen much faster than you think’

Dyson has spent years developing robotics technology behind the scenes, and Jake Dyson says fully capable home help robots are no longer a distant idea.

“I think they will 100 per cent be home help robots in the home in eight to 10 years. In fact, they’re nearly ready,” he said.

"Robots have taken a huge leap in the last six months. They have full capability to load dishwashers, wipe surfaces, possibly even fold your bedsheets. I have absolutely no doubt that they will run the home and look after the home, possibly even cook for you."

He then went further, suggesting the timeline could shrink dramatically.

"I think they'll be ready sooner than eight years. I think possibly even two or three years."

Regulation, not technology, is the real blocker

If the tech is closer than people think, why aren't robots already folding our washing? Jake Dyson says the answer is safety and regulation, not engineering.

"This thing that comes crashing down the stairs will kill you. And so it can't come crashing down the stairs," he said.

"What if it picks up a kitchen knife to cut a cucumber and it has a little bug?"

He also pointed to a global split in how the technology is developing. Cheap, capable hardware is coming out of China, while the artificial intelligence and reasoning behind it is being led out of the US.

"You could have already seen that the Chinese companies making these robots stand up, run, do handstands, do karate kicks, and they're making them very, very cheaply," he said.

"But on the other side, the sort of language model and training of what that robot does is probably more Western world, more done in California, Silicon Valley tech companies. Somewhere they've got to come together."

More confident about robots than driverless cars

Surprisingly, Jake Dyson says he trusts a robot roaming free in his house more than he trusts giving up control of the wheel in a self-driving car.

"I'm not sure I'd ever want to be driven in a car without having control of it. Whereas if a robot was walking around in my kitchen as I was in the other room, I might be okay with it," he said.

Still, he says both technologies are moving faster than most people realise.

"It's going to happen. It's going to happen much faster than you think. And I also have a lot more confidence in driverless cars for the same reason."

For now, Dyson's own robotics ambitions are showing up in smaller ways, like the camera and AI inside the new CameraJet toothbrush, and their expanding range of Robot Vacuum cleaners.

But if Jake Dyson is right, the technology behind it may end up doing a lot more than cleaning your teeth and scrubbing your floors.