If you have ever wondered what our homes may look like far off in the future, the headline news is that click-and-deliver homes, underground greenhouses to grow food, pet-sitting robots, smart glasses with the ability to personalise surroundings and smart home ecosystems will all be commonplace by 2041. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Well once upon a time, ordering goods on an app and receiving them on the same day sounded just as crazy.
Statistics say that:
- 39% of UK adults say lockdown changed their view of how their home should function
- 21% feel that a lack of space in the home is a key frustration
- 68% feel it is important to use all corners of their home
- 41% of Brits have regretted previous home improvements
The experts forecast that by 2041, connected living will be even more important for UK households and some of the changes will include:
Drones: Drones will be an ever-present helper and be able to pass messages to others (telling children that dinner is ready for instance) as well as monitoring the temperature and air quality throughout the whole house to ensure a healthy, comfortable and energy efficient environment.
No more switches: Fixtures, furniture, lighting and heating will automatically and intelligently adapt to the household’s learned preferences.
Home-working: Meetings will be revolutionised from the video calls of today as home workers are able to collaborate with colleagues who are projected as holograms onto virtual seats, from anywhere in the world.
Smart home ecosystems: Voice-operated virtual assistants will keep us healthy and efficient, tracking the food we buy and bringing it together with health measurement data from linked fitness tech.
Tech-enabled care: Care and health in the home will be a huge feature in the coming years. Innovations will feature in the very fabric of the house – there will be heat sensors in floors to recognise if someone has fallen and notify carers, as well as movement detectors and reminders to take medication.
While the pandemic has certainly changed our feelings towards the functionality of homes, the findings also uncovered how households have already started to adapt to the future of home technology and connectivity, with almost nine in ten (85%) Brits saying strong broadband in all four corners of the home is vital, one in eight (13%) having purchased a smart speaker in the last year and another 12% also having purchased smart lighting for their homes. Like it or loathe it, technology is here to stay!
Have a great weekend
Clinton and Fiona