Engineers Working on House of Tomorrow

Engineers are changing how people live and interface with their homes and appliances. There will soon be touch screens in virtually every corner of the home. The iPad-like screens will employ specially designed Corning glass that's not only highly durable but easily wiped clean.

The home of the near future will be sensitive to your needs and be a marvel of energy management. It will automatically cool or heat rooms based on their occupancy and your family members' personal preferences. Your house computer will be individualized and based on the number of children you have, their ages, or if you're childless or simply a retired couple. It will be programmed to talk to you via intercoms in every room, reminding you of appointments, work and school schedules, meetings with friends, when to take your medication, and even if you're getting enough physical exercise or just being a couch potato.

Refrigerators will scan your milk and juice cartons and automatically contact the store for deliveries if you run low. That goes for groceries in your cupboards as well. Lighting systems will be computer controlled and automatically turn off lights in uninhabited rooms.

The home of the not-too-distant future could even sense if someone falls—particularly useful for the lone elderly person--based on the rapid motion and a cry for help, in which case it would automatically call 911.

Perhaps most remarkable will be your home's ability to react to your spoken commands. Instead of clapping your hands to turn on the lights, you'll simply ask your home to turn them on—a real boon if you're entering with an armful of packages or carrying an infant. The same goes for turning on the heat, your computer, the TV or any other appliance.

Many of these innovations should be available as early as 2015.

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients. Please see more of his blogs and view additional job postings on Nexxt.