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