The home of the future is often a term used by technologists and high tech. Companies to describe the type of homes we might be living in once their technologies have been applied to them. The term doesn't so much describe what the architectural aspects of the home will involve or the latest building materials that will be used. It is more of a description or vision of how technology will be used in the home to make our lives easier. It is not even a stab in the dark about what the home of the future will have in it as most of the technologies already exist.
To this extent there seem to be a few areas where technology can help. It can make our lives easier. In other words it can run the house more efficiently and do all the tedious chores that we have to do ourselves (or put off in my case). And it can entertain us while doing all the dull stuff behind the scenes. Sounds great doesn't it?
As far as chores go, the kitchen is a place where lots of work goes on. Technology can make this simpler. One idea that really sounds great is the fridge that restocks itself.
This has been talked about for a good few years now but hasn't seemed to really take hold in the mainstream. The fridge can determine when certain stocks are low and send a message to the supermarket to re-order the stock.
If this could be coordinated with a pantry that can do the same thing then you might be onto a winner. Your entire weekly grocery list could be re-ordered with little to no input from you. How much time would that save?
Another household chore that eats up our time is the daily or weekly cleaning that needs to be done. Keeping floors and carpets clean can take time but with the robotic vacuum cleaners that are now available this can be done while you sleep or even when you go to work each day.
In fact, vacuum robots have been around for over a decade now but the early models tended to be a bit unreliable. Like all technology, bugs are steadily ironed out and the new cleaners seem to be far more capable and reliable these days.
The entertainment features of a home of the future will be about giving you more choice and making it easier to select what you want. For instance, most things will be voice activated. This is a bit like the Xbox 360 Kinect that responds to your voice, except that the systems will be integrated within the home so that you can activate things with your voice from every room. And the systems will be able to build a profile of the person and even suggest certain music or other forms of entertainment.
Another new idea is digital wallpaper which will allow you to change the look for your home depending on your mood. Or maybe you are throwing a party, say at Halloween, and want a suitably creepy ambiance. Just change the digital wallpaper to reflect ghouls, goblins and cauldron stirring witches.
To this extent there seem to be a few areas where technology can help. It can make our lives easier. In other words it can run the house more efficiently and do all the tedious chores that we have to do ourselves (or put off in my case). And it can entertain us while doing all the dull stuff behind the scenes. Sounds great doesn't it?
As far as chores go, the kitchen is a place where lots of work goes on. Technology can make this simpler. One idea that really sounds great is the fridge that restocks itself.
This has been talked about for a good few years now but hasn't seemed to really take hold in the mainstream. The fridge can determine when certain stocks are low and send a message to the supermarket to re-order the stock.
If this could be coordinated with a pantry that can do the same thing then you might be onto a winner. Your entire weekly grocery list could be re-ordered with little to no input from you. How much time would that save?
Another household chore that eats up our time is the daily or weekly cleaning that needs to be done. Keeping floors and carpets clean can take time but with the robotic vacuum cleaners that are now available this can be done while you sleep or even when you go to work each day.
In fact, vacuum robots have been around for over a decade now but the early models tended to be a bit unreliable. Like all technology, bugs are steadily ironed out and the new cleaners seem to be far more capable and reliable these days.
The entertainment features of a home of the future will be about giving you more choice and making it easier to select what you want. For instance, most things will be voice activated. This is a bit like the Xbox 360 Kinect that responds to your voice, except that the systems will be integrated within the home so that you can activate things with your voice from every room. And the systems will be able to build a profile of the person and even suggest certain music or other forms of entertainment.
Another new idea is digital wallpaper which will allow you to change the look for your home depending on your mood. Or maybe you are throwing a party, say at Halloween, and want a suitably creepy ambiance. Just change the digital wallpaper to reflect ghouls, goblins and cauldron stirring witches.
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