Dyson Is Spending Nearly $3 Billion On Batteries, Motors And Robot Research

Dyson had a good 2015. Australia is responsible for a moderate chunk of the company’s $850 million (£448 million) in yearly profit, but a lot of that comes from Dyson’s battery-powered V6 handstick vacuums — sales grew by 35 per cent in Australia. Dyson is putting that money back into making its gadgets better, though — including nearly $2 billion over five years for research into better batteries.

This news comes from Dyson’s 2015 financial results, just out in the UK, with some interesting stats included; Dyson is apparently the number one small appliance brand in Australia, and is one of the top five most trusted brands in the country — although sales paled in comparison to China, where Dyson’s three-year-old operations grew 222 per cent on the back of its vacuums and humidifiers.

And the money that Dyson is making hand over fist is going back into the company’s product research and development arm. The company is hiring over 200 engineers worldwide in a continued push to recruit the best talent possible, and will spend a huge amount of money in the near future to create new devices. The biggest figure is a nearly $2 billion (£1 billion) investment over the next five years into battery research, done at the company’s Malmesbury labs.

That lab has been creating and refining batteries for the company’s handstick vacuums and 360 Eye robotic vacuum for the last seven years, and works with Michigan company Sakti3 (now fully owned by Dyson) to build newer and more energy-dense batteries. Motors, too, are a big part of both robotics and vacuuming, and Dyson has spent $570 million (£400 million) in improvements for the digital motors it produces in Singapore.

$480 million (£250 million) goes towards Dyson building the first part of a new research, design and development campus in the UK, doubling its current research team. That team focuses on battery and robotics development, and it has real world results, with over 40 products currently in the works — meaning we’ll be seeing new Dyson gear in Australia soon enough, too.

After what it calls “a successful beta trial” in Japan last year, the Dyson 360 Eye robot will be available in “other markets” from around the middle of this year — and we’re betting those markets include Australia. Dyson has spent $48 million (£25 million) on robotics research since 2005 in partnership with the Imperial College London at the Dyson Imperial Robotics Lab. New vacuums more generally will be announced, with “the next generation” of the company’s digital motors due to be announced “shortly”.


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