Take a Virtual Tour of the Future Smart Home
At IEEE’s website (the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity) they give you a virtual tour of what they claim is an IoT home of the future. Let's see if this is true or if the current homes already have the following features:
❌ Health-Tracking Bed
There are many devices that claim to track your sleep, but no bed that does this… yet. The closest we could find is Nokia Sleep. Nokia Sleep is a Wi-Fi connected mattress pad, which you slide under your mattress and then it is supposed to record your sleep and snoring patterns. It will also turn off the lights and lower the temperature as you fall asleep. The Nokia Sleep sensor is expected to ship in the first quarter of this year, and will cost $99.95 according to the article above.✅ Auto-Adjusting Lighting
This already exists! All of our lights can be connected to timers that dim and increase the brightness of the lights depending on the time of the day. You can also control your lights through your phone or voice. In fact, smart bulbs are among our top IoT gifts and our IoT wishlist.❌ Automatic Clothing Iron
Unfortunately, there is no affordable option for this yet, the closest being almost €1,000. In fact, this item is on our IoT wishlist. We would love a device that perfectly irons your clothes and sends you a notification once it is done. It also disconnects automatically and lets you know its status (no more wondering if you forgot to unplug the iron or worse - actually forgetting to unplug it). Current models are either too expensive or not fully automated (someone still needs to do the ironing), but you can read more about them on the following websites: iReviews and Indiegogo.✅ Customizable Sound
This already exists. Check out our post on voice assistants which enable you to control your IoT devices through your voice. You also have WiFi and Bluetooth-connected speakers available on the market.❌ Personalized-Comfort Couch
Using touch ID technology and Bluetooth, you’ll be able to create the perfect seating for your body. Temperature, firmness and angle will be automatically adjusted based on your specifications. There is a smart sofa that allows you to adjust its shape and other features but nothing as advanced as described in the tour. All in all smart sofas aren’t mainstream yet.❌ Hands-Free Gaming
The full AR, VR and IoT gaming experience is yet to come to our homes. We live in a world where gaming devices are constantly improving. Incorporating IoT and other emerging technology only makes sense.❌ Water-Saving Sink
Smart sinks are on their way, but are not yet sold. Like most IoT devices, they would help us save resources, in this case water. On more short sighted note, it should also help us reduce our water bill by enabling us to track our usage as well as improve overall control of the tap.✅ Inventory-Monitoring Refrigerator
This exists as well, with Samsung’s Smart fridge being the most noticeable example. The purpose of having a smart fridge is to receive notifications when you are running out of stock or a certain food item is about to expire. With people dying of hunger or suffering from malnutrition all of over the world, smart fridges seem like a smart idea to say the least. If you want to know about the risks involved with a smart fridge, here's an article for you.✅ Restocking Coffee Maker
This already exists. You can control the device by using your phone and in some cases your voice (if you have a smart home voice assistant). In fact, you can check out the top smart coffee makers this year.❌ Auto-Cook Stove and Oven
Currently, we have smart cookers, so a completely smart kitchen is not far away. Smart cookers allow you to just leave the ingredients in a pot. You can then set it to cook from anywhere, so that when you reach your house, the food is warm and ready to eat. They come with recipe suggestions as well. Two of the smart cookers available in the market are EveryCook and Crock-Pot. If you are looking for a smart oven, they also exist. Have a look at Tovala's Steam Oven.Conclusion
Total score of the “future smart home” is 6/10 (-1 point per existing IoT feature that is currently easily available for homes). We can conclude that the virtual tour is accurate and does describe a future smart home, since most of these of the features do not exist yet or are too expensive. Are you looking forward to having a smart home or so you feel this much technology at home is too invasive? Let us know!
Nalini
Nalini is passionate about technology and innovation management. She blogs about the impact of emerging technologies, particularly IoT, on homes and industries. She dreams of applying this knowledge to help overcome important challenges in developing countries.
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