New published patents show Dyson designs for stair-climbing and drawer-opening robots

A patent filing from Dyson showing a robot that can climb and clean stairs | UK Intellectual Property Office

Premium vacuum company Dyson has patented designs for robots that look like they could climb and clean stairs, and open drawers, new filings show. It’s not clear whether the designs are for forthcoming products or ideas that are on hold, but Bloomberg reports that Dyson’s robotic unit has been working on a robot to interact with other home appliances. Whether it’s the robot hand or the stair-climbing robot, or another product entirely also isn’t clear at this point.

The patents published in the UK on September 1st show the two designs; a “robotic device with tri-star wheels and actuated arm” that would be able to climb steps and clean them (a stair-climbing vacuum sounds like an excellent idea), and a “robot hand” which is shown in...