Will robots soon be doing the dishes? Don’t bet on it

Sir James Dyson hopes we will soon be waited on by robots - preferably ones branded with his own name. Or at least that's what his company has suggested he wants.

According to the company's latest press release, the multibillionaire engineer and founder is placing a "big bet" on the fact many of us will splash out to have robotic arms cleaning our sofas by 2030.

Dyson (the company) published photographs this week of robotic claws picking up dishes, and a hand-like machine holding a teddy bear.

Is this a realistic prospect? It's debatable.

Yes, there are some trends that might point towards a growth in home automation. Spiralling energy prices mean people may favour "smart" appliances and apps to turn them on and off. A shortage of labour tips the balance towards a "rise of the robots".

Perhaps, at a stretch, the fact that people place an increasing value on leisure activities over the accumulation of more and more "stuff", will mean that labour-saving devices are more in vogue.

But automation in the home is a revolution that's been promised for years and never fully taken off. Dyson first said it would launch "robot" vaccuum cleaners more than two decades ago. In 2022, the company still sells more human-operated ones.

Dyson has found a lucrative niche selling appliances that look a bit like space ships. So lucrative, in fact, that it's made Sir James one of Britain's wealthiest people, with some £23bn.

Sir James is obviously good at engineering and design. But he’s also good at marketing and sales.

Anyone who can convince people to buy a hand dryer for almost £1,000 (the cost of the futuristic-looking 'Airblade') clearly has a talent. What these products do very well is to convey an idea; a feeling. Their primary point of difference is the addition of silver plastic and blue LED lights.

Dyson has a gift for packaging up and comodifying the enviable legacy of high-end British engineering, complete with some sci-fi bells and whistles.

The company says it plans to recruit a further 700 robotics engineers in fields such as computer vision, machine learning, sensors and mechatronics over the next five years.

That's should be applauded. Automation has huge potential applications to make our economy more efficient and prosperous.

But, at a time when productivity growth in the UK is woeful, and a recession looms large on the horizon, there are other things to be concentrating on.