GoKawiilis a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
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Dyson, a company built on engineering high-speed motors, has confirmed to The Verge that its newest robot vacuum doesn’t use a Dyson motor. The recently launched Spot & Scrub Ai robot vacuum and mop was “co-engineered,” Nathan Lawson McLean, senior design manager at Dyson, told The Verge.
According to Lawson McLean, the device merges “new and already existing Dyson technologies with other platforms.” Specifically, the new lidar-based navigation tech and the robot’s vacuum motor were developed by a third party. “It’s not one of our V10 motors; it’s one of our partner technologies,” said Lawson McLean.
“It’s not one of our V10 motors, it’s one of our partner technologies.” — Nathan Lawson McLean
The fact that Dyson had help with its newest robot vacuum was suspected from the day it was announced late last year. The Spot + Scrub is a complete departure from Dyson’s previous models and has obvious similarities to other robot vacuums on the market. But this is the first time Dyson has admitted that it had help building its flagship robot vacuum.
Outsourcing manufacturing of key components is far from unusual in the world of robot vacuum manufacturers or manufacturing in general. But for a company that built its brand on high-speed motors and cyclonic vacuum technology, it’s a surprising move.
The Dyson Spot + Scrub is Dyson’s first robot vacuum with a multifunctional dock that can empty the robot’s bin, wash its mop, drain and refill its water tanks.
So, why did Dyson ditch its signature technology for its latest robot vacuum? Speed and cost, according to Lawson McLean. “We really wanted to enter the market in this new space of wet and dry and self-emptying,” he said. “And how could we quickly do that?” The answer: Get help.
While Dyson has been developing robotic floor-cleaning machines since the early 2000s, it’s years behind Chinese competitors like Roborock and Ecovacs, and even US-based iRobot, maker of the Roomba. The latter made a similar pivot from vision-based navigation to lidar last year, working with the Chinese original design manufacturer Shenzhen Picea Robotics to produce an entirely new line of Roombas.
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