top 3 future technologies you'll love in 2020

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.