The totally automated and super-sophisticated home of the future is inching closer to reality. THE IDEA that the drudgery of domestic life can be replaced by automation is a part of countless science-fiction films. Domestic equipment makers have done their bit to make good on the promise by flooding the market with labour-saving devices. In many parts of the world, the modern home would be incomplete without the convenience of a washing machine, vacuum cleaner, central heating and microwave oven. But today's labour-saving devices are little more than cleverly designed machinery falling far short of Tinseltown's vision of the 'home of the future'. Real home automation requires domestic appliances that can communicate with each other in a sophisticated enough way to deliver real benefits to the householder. Achieving this would take unprecedented cooperation between manufacturers, property developers, consumer electronics manufacturers and IT vendors. To date, they have been unable to see home automation delivering benefits that consumers would actually pay for.
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