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Students! Thinking about your future?
Click here for a special
section of our site made just for you. Tons of career
and homework resources.. |
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Home
of The Future

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The Smart Home

My home is not very smart. It does not know when to start my coffee or how to clean the
floor. It has difficulty distinguishing between a roaring
grease fire and a steamy shower, which makes it a good
thing it can't remember the number to call in an
emergency. The only interaction I have with the house is when
I must dance the Macarena in front of the motion detector to
get my outside lights to come on. What can we
expect to experience in the smart home of the future?
Tiny wireless sensors, cameras and microphones will be
everywhere. In the carpet, the walls, the furniture and
appliances. Perhaps even on you (for example a watch that
you wear to transmit your bio signs). All connected to
each other and to a central computer that will decode this
information to determine your current health status and
environment.
Everything from opening the
curtains to adjusting the temperature in the room can be
done by simply stating your request verbally. Your smart
home will let you know when your faucet is leaking and can
notify a repair company to dispatch a plumber. Interactive
bathroom mirrors that display the latest weather and
traffic information.
The really cool stuff will
happen when homes start using artificial intelligence
to adapt to the needs of the individuals that live there.
This technology is already being tested at the
Philips HomeLab

Bendable
Concrete
New fiber-reinforced bendable
concrete looks like regular concrete, but is 500
times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent
lighter in weight.
Bendable Concrete

There's No Place Like PlaceLab
Before you can build the
home of the future, the groundwork must be laid. Not just a
foundation of stone, but of knowledge. The House_n
Research Group at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology have built PlaceLab,
designed to be a "living laboratory" for the scientific
study of people and their interaction with new
technologies and home environments.
PlaceLab |
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Future Home
What could be
in the house of the future? Here are some
things you might find in a futuristic home.
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Printable, self
assembling homes |
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Central
computer accepts voice commands, distinguishes
between occupants for personalized responses
and actions. |
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Hidden
computers, sensors and electronics throughout
house. |
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Computer tracks
movements, turns on/off lights, adjusts
temperature, etc. |
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Networked/internet connected appliances |
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Biometric screening devices for
secure entry |
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Walls and fabrics that change color |
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Wall size video and audio |
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Interactive
mirrors |
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See-through electronics, screens, touch panels |
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Fast cooking -
boil water in seconds, turkey in an hour |
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Instant inventory of food,
medications, supplies. |
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Robot pets |
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Robot
chefs |
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Cleaning robots |
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Personal robots |
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Nurse Robots |
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Virtual
medicine |
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Virtual reality
room |
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Desktop
nano-factories makes products at home |

FAB TREE HAB

Image courtesy of
Mitchell Joachim
This
symbiotic
home concept proposes a method to grow life
sustaining homes from native trees. It is one
of many futuristic and environmentally friendly
designs that can be found at
terreform.org.

Future Home Links
Home Smart Home
Future Kitchen (Flickr)
Future Kitchen (Flickr)
What's For Dinner? Just Call Your Refrigerator
Counter Intelligence
Digital Kitchen
What is Smart about Smart Homes?
Intelligent home
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