The Future of Robots in Smart Homes

By Carla Jose

Image source: Pexels

Advancements in technology have changed how we live and operate our homes. Today, you will find devices and appliances that are getting smarter every day, in a bid to make our homes more convenient, comfortable, and secure.

The demand for modern and smart homes with sustainability, flexibility, and resilience has also grown tremendously. This can be attributed to changing requirements from homeowners and their exposure to technology.

They understand how a smart home can change and aid their lifestyles. They also know how this affects their mental and physical health. Today, you just need to walk into your smart home without touching the doorknob - and no one else can do that.

However, things are changing fast. We now have robots that can handle our daily tasks in a smart home. So, where is the smart home environment heading with robots?

Robots' Main Applications in the Smart Home

We already have robots handling different tasks in the modern smart home. For instance, we have robots tasked with vacuuming in smart homes. A good example is the Roomba 980 built by iRobot. But are cleaning robots effective?

These robots are connected to the cloud and apart from vacuuming a smart home, they also develop their environment’s map while navigating through it in a bid to improve their vacuuming efficiency.

In the next few years, we are going to see more robots handling different tasks in a smart home. They will all play roles that consume a lot of our time. They will all connect and come to life at different times of the day to handle their tasks.

We will see robots that work both inside and outside the house. We are going to see more robots tasked with cleaning homes, maintaining the gardens outside, and handling other important tasks.

Due to the continued advanced technology, we will see more robots with advanced features. For instance, cleaning robots will know which areas of your house receive more traffic. They will also map commonly dirty areas. This will ensure that those areas get thorough cleaning compared to others.

If you are not at home, you will have a monitoring robot that automatically detects that you are away. This robot will be tasked with taking care of the home when you are away. It will notify you when there is an issue at home.

All these robots will be connected with other smart home devices and appliances. A smart home will never feel empty. Homeowners will never have to worry about improving their homes’ security, comfort, and efficiency, among other things.

Challenges Facing the Future of Robots in Smart Homes

The main challenge facing the integration of robots in smart homes is identifying a valuable task that is critical in a home environment and building a robot that can handle that task effectively.

Home cleaning is a valuable task, but how expensive or how long does it take to clean a house? Imagine a task in the house that earns a homeowner millions of dollars every year. Can we get a robot that can effectively handle such a task?

There are tens or hundreds of tasks in smart homes that can and will be handled by robots. We have seen different innovations from companies showcasing what their robots can do. However, this is just a demo and it happens in their labs. What can happen if such a robot is brought to a home environment?

Additionally, robots are devices. They can malfunction. All the smart devices in a smart home can also malfunction. It is important to note that not all homeowners have the technical skills to fix issues with their robots, smart devices, or smart appliances.

Fortunately, you can follow guidelines at SenseMother on how to troubleshoot some of the most common issues with smart home devices and appliances.

What to Expect With Robots in Smart Homes

The next few years will see a growth in the number of robots and other connected devices, appliances, and sensors in smart homes. All these things will communicate wirelessly and might not need to be connected to electricity.

They will also be placed at different places in a smart home, increasing convenience. If you look at modern interaction between smart homeowners and smart devices in their homes, you will realize that it involves the use of applications and smartphones.

Future robots will change this. Communication will be natural. You will not need to install any applications on your smartphone to control what the robots can and will do. You will, however, be able to choose to control them.

These robots will learn our preferences and patterns to make our homes more comfortable. We will also be able to interact with them via speech. Using sensors, they will work with other smart devices to change the model of the future smart home.

The Future is Smart

Looking at the future of robots in smart homes, it is very clear that we are going to have convenient and comfortable homes compared to what we have today.

As technology advances, it is good to make sure that you are not left behind. Get yourself smart devices for use at home and see how much difference they make in your life.