3.Home robots
Although there are robots in the home today, they don't look much like
the ones seen in sci-fi shows.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
For years -- decades -- we've been regaled with tales of housekeeping
robots. Remember Rosie from "The Jetsons"? Yet here we are, in the
21st century, with a handful of robotic
household helpers. All is not lost, however. Inventors are still
hard at work trying to perfect the perfect 'bot. One prototype unveiled by
research scientists in Germany is a one-armed, three-fingered wonder that can
pick up items while on clean-up duty, serve drinks to its owners and their
guests, and even operate some machines. Numerous sensors prevent it from
inadvertently (and painfully) clamping its hand around your arm. While users
can direct the robot via
a touch-screen in its serving tray, it also responds to spoken commands, plus
can understand and respond to gestures [source: Science Daily].
This is just one
version of a household robot, of course. There are others in development, and
it's anybody's guess which one(s) will actually be developed, marketed and
sold. Or if they'll be priced so that the average person can afford one. But we
haven't given up on the concept.
2.Smart
Toilets
New toilets are likely to incorporate many convenience features, making
today's toilet look downright shabby in comparison.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
If you've been to Asia, namely Japan, you've likely been fascinated by
their toilets.
To those of us in North America, they're quite futuristic. These super bowls
are loaded with buttons and gadgets whose function and operation are difficult
to figure out. At least to the uninitiated. For starters, the toilets also
function as bidets. Long common in Europe and other parts of the world, bidets
spritz water at you for post-potty cleansing. In these newer toilets, a dryer
also kicks in, wafting warm air up towards you, meaning there's no need for
toilet paper.
But oh, there's so
much more to these wonders. Like heated seats, and lids that raise -- and lower
-- automatically. Not surprisingly, the latter function is especially appealing
to women; they've even been dubbed "marriage savers." Then there are
the built-in deodorizers, which remove every trace of our, uh, prior
activities. And, of course, they self-flush, a toilet feature already found in public
restrooms in America. Some of these toilets even clean themselves once we've
left, applying an antibacterial coating as the last step .
But while smart
toilets currently exist -- even if they haven't reached our shores yet -- even
smarter ones are in development. Their purpose: to keep us healthy. Some
toilets in Japan already perform urinalysis to see if users have diabetes; soon
there will be toilets able to detect things like drug use and pregnancy from
your urine, plus colon cancer from your stools. Heck, they'll even be able to
give us diet and exercise advice.
But will we heed it?
1.Home Security Through Facial Recognition
Software
Using 3-D software, the system goes through a series of steps to verify
or identify an individual.
Lots of movies today feature businesses and governmental entities with
facial recognition software in place, usually to keep unauthorized personnel
from accessing areas with highly-classified information and priceless goods.
Eventually, many of us may be able to install this software in our own homes.
Why would we want to? Video cameras at our doors could identify our family and
friends, plus strangers. If a stranger does ring our doorbell, the system could
then immediately run the person's mug against all the faces in our criminal and terrorist
databases, so we don't let in some really bad dude [source: Future
Technology Portal]. Of course, sometimes a family member or friend
turns out to be a bad guy.
There are numerous
companies currently working with facial recognition software, for both business
and personal use. When and if it becomes widely available isn't yet known. Android currently
has a face-unlock feature in its Android 4 operating system, aka Ice Cream
Sandwich. But if you hold up a photo of the authorized user, it can be fooled
[source: Bonnington].
So, it seems we have a ways to go on this one.
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