The home of the future knows a terrifying amount about its residents. Probably almost everything: how warm the bathroom should be, what melody you want to be woken up with, if it was late the day before, whether you want rolls for breakfast, which messages and emails are important, and whether shirts and blouses need to be sent for cleaning .
At some point, the retina and fingerprint scanners will also disappear, along with metal house door keys. In the year 2035, the intelligent home will certainly recognize its owners that way. Maybe a mix of voice recognition and gait profile is enough for identification.
This is what it could look like, the smart new world. Odor and weight sensors then perhaps not only recognize who has just used the elevator in front of you or how the guests are on it. Sometimes they also check how much you have eaten or whether you have secretly drunk a beer. And this information is then passed on to the health insurance company.
At the top of the electronic hit list: intelligent lighting
Perhaps by 2035 even voice commands will become superfluous again because the house recognizes wishes before they can be uttered. After all, it studied you for years. The buzzing household robots of the second and third generation have probably already disappeared again, cleaning is now done by swarms of tiny drones.
The result: the home is tidy, always. Floor-to-ceiling screens can replace walls, pictures and windows. Suddenly, even apartments in Wuppertal or Wiesbaden have a clear view of the Mediterranean or the Alps. It smells of seaweed or mountain meadows.
Welcome to the future, which may also look very different. But one thing is certain: sensors, algorithms and networked home electronics are spreading. The triumphant advance is strongly reminiscent of that of the smartphones, which in less than ten years radically changed all communication and with it the lives of many people.
Sales are increasing year after year. 2020 alone According to GfK, seven European countries (Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) spent around 28 billion dollars on smart home products, a quarter more than in the previous year. According to a study by, the users in this country expect “more comfort and quality of life” (72 percent), “more security” (65 percent) and more energy efficiency (52 percent) Branch service Bitkom. Right at the top of the electronic hit list: intelligent lighting, ahead of alarm systems, video surveillance, heating, sockets and consumption meters.
With increasing networking, however, some also worry about the darker side. Big Brother is watching you. But very few are really put off by such dystopias. What else can you do? Many devices are only available in smart form.
Dimmable lights and telephones with buttons – those were revolutions too
Basically, automated living is old hat. It makes dreams come true, as they emerged in the 1950s when electrical appliances revolutionized the household. The 1957 Monsanto House of the Future was a Disneyland attraction. It already had dimmable lights, a dishwasher with high-frequency technology, cooling zones at hand height, an extendable microwave, central climate control (with just a few buttons) and a telephone with buttons (instead of the rotary dial at the time) including a hands-free system. The house of tomorrow promised “utmost convenience and efficiency”, i.e. the highest level of comfort and efficiency, and thus resembled today’s digital promises.
Convenience is the door opener to the new, electronically networked world. Smart home can support an aging society if it fulfills social functions and acts as a guardian angel. A textile floor covering with sensor functions “for monitoring vibration, pressure and temperature”, as presented by Infineon and Vorwerk in 2004, automatically sounds the alarm after a fall and calls for help.
As early as 2002, the then Pentagram designer David Tonge developed new services for the telephone giant AT&T: For example, pensioner “Joe” wore a blood pressure monitor on his T-shirt while the cutlery counted calories and kept a log of what Joe ate. “Phyllis”, on the other hand, mother of three children, carried the “Personal Shopper” on her shoulder bag. He knew not only her profile, but also her schedule. He reminded her of things to “consider” for the evening party, or just anything she “normally” bought.
It all sounded crazy back then. So you probably get used to cleaning drones and talking robots.