Dyson released a teaser video Thursday for its "project N223," which is rumored to be a robotic vacuum cleaner.
The product's unveiling is scheduled for Sept. 4 and is expected to be for the vacuum cleaner that has been in development for 16 years, according to The Telegraph. A device looking similar to a hovercraft is shown moving across the floor in the 25-second video. The video also shows a product holding multiple clothing items.
There is only one piece of text in the video: "16 years. 200 engineers. 28 million-pound investment. The result? Tell us what you think it is."
Rumors about Dyson's robotic vacuum cleaner intensified earlier this year when the British tech company announced that it was investing $9.2 million in a new robotics vision laboratory at Imperial College London, PC Magazine reported. The lab will be used for creating computer system visions for robots, which Imperial College London said would "enable robots to move beyond these controlled environments and successfully navigate the real world."
"Developing robots that can process visual information in real-time could lead to a new range of handy and helpful robots for around the home and in industry," said Colin Smith from the college.
Prof. Andrew Davison from Imperial College London's Department of Computing said at the time of the announcement that robots could eventually be used to make the lives of humans more efficient and convenient, The Telegraph reported.
"However, in order to get there we need to develop technologies that free up robots from the factory floor so that they can be used more effectively in our homes," he said. "We aim to attract some of the brightest minds to come and work with us at the center to make this future a reality."
Dyson almost released a robotic vacuum cleaner called DC06 in 2001, but it was dropped by company founder James Dyson, who said the final product was too heavy and expensive to make commercially available.
