Home Gadgets that Drive Adults Crazy

Technology has made its way into different areas of our everyday life, from work and transports to sports and our home.

In this thread, the HN team discussed their favorite smart home gadgets and what developments they wish to see available on the market.

This Slogging thread by Mónica Freitas, Limarc Ambalina, Ellen Stevens, Jack Boreham, Amy Shah and Rohan Dominic occurred in slogging's official #technology channel, and has been edited for readability.

Mónica FreitasOct 13, 2021, 11:18 AM

There are dozens of smart home gadgets nowadays, some more useful than others, but the demand keeps growing. What do you think will be the next mainstream home gadget that'll drive every "adult" excited?

Limarc AmbalinaOct 14, 2021, 2:16 PM

So I just got a Roomba and believe the hype… is worth it. I can control it with my Alexa device so I can just say “Alexa tell [name of roomba] to start cleaning” or “Alexa tell Roomba to go home”. It’s so awesome

Limarc AmbalinaOct 14, 2021, 2:16 PM

you don’t know the amount of dust that collects on your floor until you have a Roomba to pick it all up 😄

Mónica FreitasOct 14, 2021, 3:12 PM

That one I get! It saves you tons of time, and you have your own little bot to command! Every kid's dream 😂 Which invention do you think we'll have next? A gadget that gives us our clothes cleaned, dried, and ready to wear? An outfit picker as we'd see in the 90s movies? A self-cleaning garbage can?

Limarc AmbalinaOct 14, 2021, 3:52 PM

I think an important one that I’d like to see is a security bot. There’s already a company gaining traction called Knightscope and I’d like to see similar bots or at least AI smart security cameras I could outside my homes

Limarc AmbalinaOct 14, 2021, 3:52 PM

But to be honest a bot would be better

Limarc AmbalinaOct 14, 2021, 3:53 PM

Criminals are used to seeing cameras but a little guard bot at your front and back door is a stronger deterrent

Mónica FreitasOct 15, 2021, 10:37 AM

Limarc Ambalina, I looked Knightscope up, and I can see how it can be a great bot for surveillance, though I'm not sure it can have a more protective role in a household. How does it deter criminals? If it had a taser function, it could be beneficial for many people, even businesses, but it could also be considered a liability in case of malfunction. Jack Boreham what do you think? What will be the next big home gadget?

Limarc AmbalinaOct 15, 2021, 4:56 PM

Even just the presence itself Mónica. A camera is one thing, a bot that moves around and can react to your presence is a much bigger deterrent than a camera.

Limarc AmbalinaOct 15, 2021, 4:57 PM

But I think the main uses of these bots are to guard the area and alert the police or security guards immediately when they see intruders

Mónica FreitasOct 18, 2021, 9:53 AM

I can see how having a bot that automatically detects intruders and alerts authorities can be beneficial. I'd be interesting to see a study on how criminality levels are affected by the presence of bots in high crime areas. I've found this article measuring the pros and cons of home security bots and a few of the options available on the market: https://www.covesmart.com/blog/home-security-robot-can-robots-protect-your-home/

It appears that this is a growing market as there's already quite the offer available on home security bots: https://top-10-drones.com/5-top-home-security-robots/

Mónica FreitasOct 25, 2021, 2:01 PM

Jack Boreham Ellen Stevens Amy Shah How about you? What do you think will be the next big thing on smart home gadgets?

Ellen StevensOct 25, 2021, 8:43 PM

Delivery drones for all.

Probably personal humanoid robots as previously mentioned, but that's still a ways away.

A system like Alexa that is further incorporated with home systems. But I'm way too paranoid to ever get anything like that.

Jack BorehamOct 26, 2021, 7:39 AM

Mónica Freitas, yeah, all of the above. Ideally, something where you can use your phone to control your house, such as the lights, heating etc., all from a click of a button. I know there is some stuff like that on the market, but not an all-encompassing app. Obviously. I want humanoid robots, oh and holographic stuff, similar to the Star Wars Jedi Council. 😂

Mónica FreitasOct 26, 2021, 1:14 PM

Ellen Stevens DELIVERY DRONES! YES! That'd be amazing! No longer having to wait on the mailman or lost packages because of address mix-ups. Still, some would discuss hacking to discourage this - stolen property could scare some people off.

Mónica FreitasOct 26, 2021, 1:15 PM

Ellen Stevens, to be honest, humanoid bots kinda scare me, but I'd love to have an Alexa. It'd be a huge time saver. And it's your personal butler ahah

Mónica FreitasOct 26, 2021, 1:19 PM

Jack Boreham You got me on holographic. Image a room where you could enter, choose the "world" you wish to enter and have it brought to you through holograms? It'd be similar to VR but without needing to have anything attached to yourself. It's probably a bit far-fetched for today's reality, but I wish it to be true.

Limarc AmbalinaOct 26, 2021, 1:51 PM

I don't know if you could call it a home gadget, but I'm sure drones will be here in the next 10 years. Amazon will be using them for sure as soon as legislation allows it.

Limarc AmbalinaOct 26, 2021, 1:51 PM

Jack Boreham Amazon Alexa is almost that all-encompassing app but it's kinda scary to let one company control your entire house lol

Mónica FreitasOct 27, 2021, 9:36 AM

Limarc Ambalina, I'm sure Amazon is on top of that, but it will be years until we have a considerable number of countries giving a green flag to that. Which countries do you see it get implemented first?

Limarc AmbalinaOct 27, 2021, 10:05 AM

Most likely the United States! They’ve had decently loose laws around AI and self-driving cars. I assume that looseness will follow drone regulations

Mónica FreitasOct 27, 2021, 10:29 AM

Limarc Ambalina Agree! If not in every state, some are going to accept it in a heartbeat.

Ellen StevensNov 4, 2021, 11:10 PM

I cringe at the idea of a robot having universal control of my house. I'd only consider stuff like that if I became a master hacker and could code war with various viruses etc. But until then various elements of my home control will remain 'analog.' I have a surveillance system but I make sure it can't see inside my house if I'm in there haha.

Amy ShahNov 5, 2021, 12:02 AM

Ellen Stevens That gives new meaning to the term "haunted house" for sure!

Ellen StevensNov 5, 2021, 12:03 AM

LOL beautiful response haha

Rohan DominicNov 14, 2021, 7:33 AM

We need to use more drones. For instance, the police departments can use drones to pull over folks over petty issues. That way, even the case of police brutality could be reduced.

The Fire Department can use drones to put off the fire. Also, they could use some heavy-duty drones to rescue people from inaccessible areas.

Mónica FreitasNov 15, 2021, 3:43 PM

Rohan Dominic I never thought of that, but you're right. Those strategies could reduce costs and help with the shortage in numbers of professionals.