There are around 175 million smart homes in the world, and the trend is only growing stronger, with the Internet of Things and ubiquitous connectivity enabling homeowners to have greater control over the way they live, work and play. TechBuddy reports that some of the strongest trends in the smart housing sector include the use of machine learning to create more comfortable and personalized ambiences for home dwellers, virtual assistant integration with smart home features, and smart bathrooms, gyms and kitchens. Just a few of the top new innovations were presented this year at the CES tech fair. Check out a few below.
Smart Refrigerators
Fridges like the LG InstaView are fully connected to devices like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, enabling them to be controlled via voice commands. The fridge has hands-free convenience (just utter the command, and the door will open for you). Tap the door twice on the transparent glass door, and the fridge will immediately turn on the light so you can see its interior. The fridge also supports interactive voice technology, so you can ask it to let you know the status of its ice dispenser or inquire about the day’s activities. The LG InstaView boasts Amazon Dash Replenishment technology – meaning it can automatically reorder items you have consumed.
Enhanced Water Features
Large homes – including luxury villas and modern ranch-style homes – can house several dwellers at once, making water efficiency key. As stated by Mangum Builders, a functional ranch can have dozens of farmed acres, and agriculture accounts for up to 90% of the nation’s consumptive water use. There are many steps that savvy ranch owners can take to reduce their water consumption – including the use of smart drip irrigation systems. Within ranch interiors, meanwhile, smart features can also reduce the likelihood of wastage. For instance, companies such as Kohler have created water monitoring systems that alert users of usage and automatically shut off valves in the event of emergencies, thus preventing a home from suffering the damaging effects of leaks, flooding, and water wastage.
AI-Powered Homes
Home automation systems are making use of the IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) to learn how homeowners use lights, water, music and the like so as to program everything from the temperature of shower water to the type of music played at specific types of the day. Machine learning also helps to save energy by pre-programming heating and cooling systems to required temperatures when dwellers are in the home, and by shutting these systems when they are not actually being used. Smart sensors and meters can be used in a variety of spaces, including living rooms (AI could determine when to turn lights on and off), bathrooms (to determine when artificial lighting is not needed), and kitchens (to analyze problems and save energy, and to turn energy-efficient appliances on or off remotely). Smart home functions such as AI-powered homes are becoming increasingly popular for money and eco-conscious homeowners. Buying homes with this technology is a wise investment as they are likely to save homeowners money in the future. Often, luxury new construction homes have these features, go here to find out more.
A plethora of new technologies are vying for the attention of home dwellers, offering the potential to control energy and water use. Smart tech is also enabling them to create specific ambiences in each zone, through personalized lighting, heat, and music and entertainment features. AI, meanwhile, is using machine learning to analyze the way in which human beings live, offering them bespoke solutions to everything from weather issues to flooding risks.
