12 Technologies Experts Say Will Populate The Homes Of Tomorrow - Forbes

Years ago, the concept of “smart homes” and advanced artificial intelligence could only be found in futuristic sci-fi movies. Today, these technologies are increasingly becoming an everyday reality for many individuals and businesses.

Technology’s impact is only growing, and each year, companies introduce new consumer products that have the potential to improve our lives. We asked a panel of Forbes Technology Council members which emerging tech features they expect most homes to have in the next five to 10 years. Their answers are below.

1. Digital Wallpaper

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) tech is getting cheaper by the minute. How amazing would it be have OLED walls in your house? They could transform with time of day or by day of the year. No more painting walls; change the color with your mood. Just email a picture to the wall and then move it into place. Upload pictures to Grandma’s wall from the soccer field or just stream the game to her, right on the wall. - Tom Altman, Leverage, powered by Clickstop

2. Proactive Artificial Intelligence

Smart homes will gain intelligence to become truly smart and not just the enabled homes they are today. Applied AI will alter the way we interact with our homes, our utilities and those living under the same roof. Proactive application of policies will allow a smart home to regulate its own activities and recommend action items, such as switching a utility provider based on prevailing rates. - Jason Miller, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty

3. Connection To A Single ‘Home’ Network

With more connected devices, I don’t think it’s very far off before all our homes become one major network connected together for sharing information, utilities and more. - Jon Bradshaw, Calender

4. Utility Monitoring Systems

Energy management and cost reduction will drive technological changes in the home. Energy consumption monitoring—beyond the current capabilities of smart thermostats—and water consumption monitoring, including leaks and flooding, will play a major role in the home’s on-call dashboard and directly impact the cost of home ownership. - Dan Stuart, Bidvine

5. Self-Cleaning Home Technology

What drives innovation? It’s the apparent needs of the market. People hate cleaning their homes, but most have to. As such, the home of the future needs to be self cleaning. I fully expect to see technology fold our laundry, wash our windows, clean out the fridge, clean our toilets and showers, etc. If the success of the Roomba is any indication, the market for the self-cleaning home is here. - James Carder, LogRhythm

6. Completely Voice-Controlled Interfaces

We will be interfacing with our homes by talking to them. With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, all of our home devices will be smart and connected. These developments, coupled with rapid advances in natural language processing and natural language understanding, will speed the development of voice in the home to the point where keyboard and touch interfaces will become antiquated memories. - Michael Keithley, United Talent Agency

7. Health And Safety Monitoring Tools

As the Internet of Things stretches into the Internet of You for monitoring health and safety, prudence dictates that homes will be tapped into us more directly. Future homes might keep an eye on environmental variables like temperature, unlocked gates and stairway lighting and analyze it against personal data such as an occupant with the flu, children playing outside or someone walking downstairs. - Brian Contos, Verodin Inc.

8. Keyless Entry

It’s reasonable to look to cars as an indicator as to what technology may be incorporated into homes. I’d like to see keyless entry become more prominent. Whether that’s a wireless fob that you keep on you, a thumbprint scanner that unlocks your front door or other currently available keypads, I think it would make a lot of sense without a huge barrier to entry. - Brett Jurgens, Notion

9. Wireless Switches

The average new build includes over $10,000 worth of electrician’s work in wiring outlets, fixtures, switches and panels. With the rising cost of copper and the increasingly costly code-compliance measures required to wire a house, expect to see wireless switches taking off over the coming decade. Homebuilders can save thousands in materials and labor while raising prices due to the added convenience. - Jason Gill, The HOTH

10. Smart Furniture

I think furniture will be made to be much more useful through technology. For example, instead of a simple coffee table, you could have a touch screen on it that could pull up just about any board game, newspaper or site. - Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

11. Solar Power

I see solar-powered roof tiles being the one technology feature that most homes will opt into within the next five to 10 years. It is still surprising how many homes all over the world are powered through the grid. There will be more investments into appliances that will run on solar power and are also capable of harvesting it more effectively. - Spandana Govindgari, Hype AR Inc.

12. Eco-Friendly Resource Management Systems

IoT has already infiltrated my office space and my home. What I would like to see is a push toward installing eco-friendly smart devices within the house. Things like taps with timers, scheduled on/off times for lights and other things that improve efficient resource expenditure can have a high positive impact both on a personal level (lower electricity bills) and on a global level. - Maxim Garkavtsev, QArea Software Development Company

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