Technology Behind The Future Homes

by Matt Warman

How will we live in the future? Are Star Trek fantasies of simulated-reality holodecks and revolutionary foodstuffs going to come true? We can suppose that many of the elements of what will be commonplace in a few decades, or even sooner, are already available to some consumers, or to researchers.

Key to much of our future lifestyle will be the use of resources. Imagining the home of the future is not simply about infusing more glamour into the places we live in today, and perhaps adorning the bathroom with LED lighting. In fact, a recent television experiment tried a similar approach and energy use shot up by 60 per cent. What we can expect to see are devices that are not only more efficient than anything we have now but also provide greater connectivity between people and machines, allowing them to ‘talk’ seamlessly to each other.

It means an internet that is omnipresent. As Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt put it, ‘elites’ may surge ahead with holographic communications but we will also be able to connect with those in the developing world much more effectively. According to Schmidt, in the house of the future people are ‘not lost, never lonely, never bored’. He sees new technology as offering the possibility of ‘a life of knowledge and entertainment - a potpourri for all of us to choose from’. And, he adds: ‘Two billion people who we’ve never heard from will enter our conversation in the next year.’

Outside

What would a visitor from 2012 notice about the front drive of any house in 2020? If companies such as Panasonic have their way, it could be the charging plates for your electric vehicle. And as electric-car companies may not necessarily have a motor-trade history, more drives may have a Tesla parked on them.
Founded by Elon Musk, the man behind PayPal and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Tesla Motors has cornered the market among wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who can afford its fast, electric cars - such as the Roadster and gull-wing Model X. Indeed, while wishful thinkers might say a glorified version of Skype will make personalised transport redundant, the motor car is surely here to stay for a good while yet.

Companies will still be around offering clever models for sharing cars, renting them and even turning them into automated taxis. Especially in America, the car remains king. It could just do with guzzling a bit less petrol. With that in mind, we might do well to expect more consumers to have their own fuel cells installed at home. On the market in Japan, these allow users to generate their own power relatively cheaply. Larger companies, including Google and FedEx, already use their own fuel cells and claim to have saved several million dollars by doing so. So the next time your boiler needs replacing, the options could be greater.

Back in the present, houses in smaller spaces are having car turntables installed. This follows a lead set by the Houses of Parliament, which installed one for Royal Mail vans inside an ancient quadrangle. And, of course, every lawn-mower will be an autonomous ‘robomower’.

Kitchen

The kitchen has long been home to a host of gadgets, some more useful than others. Although the number of unused milk frothers has not been formally studied, it’s a fair bet most owners are not users. Indeed, a key feature of kitchen tools has not been how advanced, but how durable they are. Magimix, which this year celebrated its 40th anniversary, now offers a 20-year guarantee on its motors. We replace mobile phones every 12 months but kitchen tools stick around. Instead, the kitchen of the future is set to live up to the idea of eliminating tedious shopping. LG Electronics has already launched fridge-freezers that ‘communicate’ with other devices, as well as with retailers, to inform them what’s inside. Via a screen on the door they can suggest what you might be able to cook with food that you have in the house, while providing advertisers with opportunities to recommend products.

Some shops are already encouraging devices that automatically build up a shopping list and allow you to arrange ‘one-touch’ delivery. Much of this is thanks to the tags that supermarkets themselves have long been using to keep track of their own stock. Cookery apps for Apple’s iPad have also begun to crack the problem of sticky fingers on a screen while you’re cooking: the front camera can be used to register movement, so pages can be turned by waving your hand in front of the device. Gadgets such as the Qooq tablet, aimed at the kitchen, are also emerging but it seems more likely that portable technology will stay portable – expect Apple and Google to dream up devices that can help you bake, too.

Living room

This is the area that has seen the most profound changes in recent years - from Sky+ altering your viewing habits, through to the iPlayer that allows everyone to watch what they want, when they want. And with games consoles and smart TV a fixture in many houses, the idea of interacting with the television set is now established. Users of Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect will already be familiar with the idea of speaking to or waving at the television to make it do certain things, and manufacturers such as Samsung are building similar technology into their own sets. The idea is that rather than hunting around for the remote control, users can simply say ‘pause’ or wave to browse through a list of programmes. This new interface is still in its early stages but it’s only a matter of time until it will be able to detect facial expressions – then users can expect to see new suggestions based simply on computer analysis of a sceptically arched eyebrow.

Elsewhere, the television will increasingly become the main platform for video calls, with Samsung’s new 9000 series already including a retractable high-definition camera. Like cameras in mobile phones, this will be common, as will more sophisticated ways of showing you what your friends and family are watching, and asking if you’d like to recreate the shared experience of gathering around the same set. Children will play games such as Microsoft’s re-imagined Sesame Street online, and throw virtual objects for on-screen characters to ‘catch’. All of this is likely to be in an environment where everything - from thermostats to digital picture frames - is controlled by tablets or mobile phones, and such a high level of connectivity, much of it automated, should smooth out the tedium of managing a lot of gadgets. In the latest housing developments, that ubiquitous connectivity is built into the fabric of the building itself.

Bathroom

The bathroom of the future will combine energy- and water-saving technology with tasteful, space-saving design. Even if ‘his’ and ‘hers’ sinks are currently all the rage, we’re likely to see an increasing number of houses with smart water meters that will monitor how much water is used when, and consequently drive a growth in showers with more efficient heads. Digital controls will mean personalised shower settings for family members and some manufacturers are considering parental controls, so the days of waiting for a teenager to get out of the shower could be coming to an end. Bathroom scales, too, are already available from manufacturers such as Withings as wifi-enabled models that allow you to keep track of your weight online and adjust your level of exercise accordingly. The ability to calculate your body mass index and to check your progress via a mobile app should mean there’s no excuse for putting off that run.

This example emphasises just how integral to every aspect of daily life are the mobile phone and the internet. In the house of the future your bathroom’s temperature will be controlled via an app connected to your thermostat, and advances in technology will allow you to do much more than check emails, pay bills and make phone calls. It may also mean that the idea of a television in the bathroom finally makes sense – as these gadgets may become the devices through which we control everything from the scales to the settings on the electric toothbrush.

Source : http://www.nexpected.com