When I was a kid, I loved watching the Jetson’s cartoon and couldn’t wait to grow up and have all the cool robots and tech gear from the show. Robot housekeeper, who does all the cooking and cleaning? Yes, please! Individual flying saucers! Ready for my spaceship license. Moving walkways and a robotic arm to brush my teeth? Hello, lazy time!
Now that I’ve grown up, there is a certain sadness and nostalgia for the cartoon world that didn’t become reality. Even though I don’t have a flying car, or a Rosie the Robot to take care of my every need, technology has entered our homes in ways we never anticipated.
Innovations for your home!
- Nervous about cooking the holiday meal for your mother-in-law? Try June Pro, a smart convection oven that can identify 25 different foods and cook them correctly.
- Home assistants like Google Home, Alexa (Echo), and Siri are readily available to help people connect with the world around them. Step up your game with Gladys’, an open-source home assistant that runs on Raspberry Pi.
- Living in a tiny home? Or even just a studio apartment? Malawi’s compact ecosystem lets you have an aquarium and a garden in a space the size of a microwave.
- Coffee remains the fuel of choice for many of us. With Mugsy you can text your coffee pot to brew you a fresh cup using Raspberry Pi and Arduino.
- Hate coming home to find a missed delivery notice on your door? Amazon is currently working on a doorbell that would allow one-time access to your home for delivery drivers to drop off your latest online purchases.
- We’ve had vacuum robots for a while, but now you can task Darth Vader or a Storm Trooper to do your cleaning for you. The Force is strong with these robots, combining powerful vacuum technology with mapping technology to find the fastest routes and maneuver around objects.