The brave new world of the home of the future - where fridges re-stock themselves and washing machines read temperature labels - is closer than you think.
Let's say you're out of milk. You're busy at work so it's not really your top priority - but it is your fridge's. Earlier in the week when you filled the fridge, every item passed over a mini scanner and now the fridge "knows" that the carton of milk that is there is out of date.
While you are at work it goes on line via its own Internet link up and orders milk from your local supermarket. They deliver into your outdoor UDU - the Unattended Delivery Unit - part fridge, part jumbo post box. You arrive home and key your PIN number into your UDU. Sour milk crisis over. As futuristic as that that little domestic drama sounds, when you break down the elements involved you quickly see how close it is to becoming a reality. Smart fridges that can tell when produce is out of date or low in stock have been developed for commercial use in the US and parts of Europe. In Ireland, both Tesco and Superquinn have launched and are continually expanding their web-based home delivery service.
What is currently missing is what the electronic industry calls "connectedness" - making appliances interface with the outside world, usually via mobile phones to the Internet. Once appliances are connected, ovens can be turned on and off via mobile phones, your washing machine will alert you via a text message when the spin cycle is complete and when there is a fault, all appliances will be able to selfdiagnose the problem and contact a service engineer. Electrolux has developed a connected kitchen called "Live In", which is currently being tested under the Rex brand among 50 Italian families. All appliances can be managed from a single point in the kitchen through a remote control device and a flat screen designed to swing down from under a cupboard. A glance at the screen tells you where the various machines are in their cycles and how long each task has left to run. The screen unit also works as a television, a computer screen for Internet use and a radio. Programmed into it is a recipe library and step-by-step cookery instructions and in expectation of sticky hands, the remote control has been designed to be washable.
The screen is the size of that on a laptop computer, a result of research which showed that while people liked the idea of having a TV in their kitchen, they didn't want to have a large set that dominated the room. The control console is designed to fit under a conventional sized eye-level cupboard.
"There is only so much research you can do into home appliances, at some point you have to get them into people's homes and see what real people make of them," said Wolfgang Konig, CEO of Electrolux Home products, Europe at a press briefing last week to launch the Live in concept.
"Early research into the Sony Walkman showed that there was no demand for a portable tape recorder; the same was true for Xerox when they researched the market for photocopiers. With some technology, you have to see it working to realise what a difference it is going to make." A screen fridge (a fridge with an inbuilt TV/computer screen) is currently being tested in Denmark and Sweden while the UDU is being tested in Sweden. An interesting feature of the UDU is that it is not on all the time, as that would be vastly inefficient in terms of energy usage. Instead, when the supermarket receives the online food order, it also asks for a special PIN code. Using this number, it sends a text message to the UDU instructing it to turn on and start refrigeration an hour or so in advance of delivery. At all other times the fridge is off and can be used to securely receive books or other non-perishables ordered over the Web.
The Live In system has been developed under an "open architecture" protocol, which basically means that it uses standard wiring systems so that appliances from other manufacturers can be hooked up to the system.
