Life at home changes drastically when you can activate various services simply by where you are standing or by voice command. Such futuristic lives, previously experienced only in movies, will soon be a reality.

Making Daily Life More Practical

    Waking up in a futuristic home will begin with virtual sunlight filtering through tree leaves, making you feel as if you are in a resort. Weather and traffic information will be displayed on the ceiling above your bed. The bathroom mirror will simulate virtual make-up and hairstyles based on your plans for the day, such as meetings or parties. Such simulated results can be used for picking out clothes as well, allowing you to check out different outfits without actually changing.

    Smart locker home delivery systems will revolutionize the distribution of goods to consumers. Package information will be registered to devices and by holding one’s device to the lock a door of the appropriate size will open, containing anything from flowers to ice cream stored at the appropriate temperature.

A smart locker that opens both from the inside and the outside. The doors show each compartment's temperature. Courtesy of Panasonic.

    Future housing will also make crime prevention easier. Keys will no longer be necessary as a camera and face recognition system will lock and unlock the door. When you get home, an air shower equipped with a virus-sensing feature will remove pollen and harmful particulates. Reportedly, it will one day even be possible to neutralize the influenza virus.

Healthcare Made Easy

    Kitchen and home appliances are evolving, too. The smart locker will come with refrigeration and display expiration dates and methods of preparation for foodstuffs within. Recommended dishes and delivery information will be available at a glance. Conveniently, the smart locker will respond to vocal inquiries with speech output. The kitchen will be equipped with an artificial light plant cultivation system, providing fresh and safe vegetables.

    Information such as ingredient amounts, recipes, and serving suggestions will be displayed on the kitchen counter. If you order "tea for two," the appropriate amount of water will be poured into the kettle and heated to the right temperature. Working in the kitchen will be much easier with this sort of voice control available.

    The living room's blinds will open and close in accordance with the light outside and the lighting fixtures will be regulated automatically as well. If you put something on the table, the object will be illuminated. The wall screen will not only turn into a television set, but will also be able to display books or videos and images saved on a device.

    People will be able to check their health daily in both the bedroom and the bathroom. When you stand in front of your bathroom mirror, it will measure your heart rate and blood pressure. And when you go to bed, the bedroom will use a precise millimeter-wave radar to calculate your heart rate and frequency of breath, as well as the depth of your sleep, without ever touching you, in order to monitor the quality of your sleep. By continuously gathering such data, it will become easier to grasp the status of your overall health.

    It appears likely that the energy to sustain such systems will be supplied by future homes’ hydrogen infrastructure. In such infrastructure, hydrogen is generated from sunlight and water and saved for future use. New homes can also be expected to better withstand disaster. In the event of an earthquake for example, your home will be able to give a damage report or confirm the safety of absent family members. During normal times, the environmental management system will provide information on invisible elements like room air quality.

Special Smartphones to Control Everything

    Technology is also progressing when it comes to leisure. Futuristic accommodations are on the rise, with the convenience of hostels making use of the Internet of Thingsbeing especially noteworthy.
    Guests are given a dedicated smartphone during check-in, with which they can access their room and control the lighting, TV, air purifier, and curtains. The lighting varies based on whether one wishes to work or relax and lighting color can be selected from 16 million options, while brightness can be set in detail as well. At night, the bedroom can be set to night mode, which dims the lighting, shuts the curtains, and sets the AC accordingly.
    Usually one would have to operate each device individually, but in this case a single smartphone controls all processes. If you set the time you wish to wake up in advance, the curtains will open and the TV be switched on automatically.

    It is already common for lights to come on and the toilet seat to rise automatically when entering a modern restroom. The temperature of the seat and the bidet water can be set and after use the lid closes and water is flushed on its own. When the door is closed the lights go off again. None of this is much of a surprise to most people anymore. Daily life in the rest of the future Japanese home will experience a similar noticeable boost in convenience.

    Thanks to the latest technology, information will be shared between appliances and your home, making life easier in a number of ways. People and objects will share information and communicate in order to make life both more carefree and safer. The time has come when cutting-edge technology will connect humans and things to offer a more convenient lifestyle.