[Lee Myung-ho's Future Preview] The True Value That Smart Homes Should Provide

Smart Homes Connecting People and Objects... Centered on Individuals, Not Families
Revolution in White Goods like Washing Machines... Contributing to Women's Empowerment
Demand for Innovative Smart Homes... Complete Liberation from Housework Needed

What do many people imagine when they think of a smart home? The lighting gradually brightens or the curtains open before the alarm time, and the alarm sounds when the sleep rhythm is at a low state. A simple greeting comes from the artificial intelligence (AI) speaker, and you stretch in bed. If you are still half asleep, the speaker asks whether you want to sleep for 10 more minutes or play cheerful music. When you enter the bathroom and wash your face and brush your teeth at the sink, the mirror recognizes the user and analyzes the condition of the skin, pupils, and inside of the mouth. The foot mat measures weight and body fat, and the smart toilet analyzes urine and stool to continuously record changes in physical condition.

When you stand in front of the mirror to change clothes, it advises you to select a suit, casual clothes, or appropriate scarves and accessories according to your schedule. Before dressing, if you ask to scan your entire body in front of the full-length mirror, it measures your waist circumference and shows a 3D (three-dimensional) image of your body, comparing it with previous states. The beverage machine not only makes coffee but also grinds apples on the spot to make drinks. The type, amount, calories, and nutrients of consumed food are calculated and input. The speaker tells you your daily schedule and, if you need to go out, informs you when and which transportation to use considering traffic conditions. If you choose a subscription-based autonomous vehicle, the self-driving car arrives at your door according to your departure time.

When everyone leaves the house, it automatically cuts off heating and other power and switches to low-power standby mode while activating the security system. When returning from outside, the heating and cooling system operates according to each family member’s preferred temperature based on their arrival time. The door opens automatically through facial recognition. When you lie down to sleep, the lighting gradually dims and turns off completely once you fall asleep. The bed checks your sleep state and heartbeat while you sleep, and if you snore, the mattress angle automatically adjusts to prevent snoring or correct your posture.

‘Family’ Missing in Smart Homes... Fails to Overcome Modern Household Issues

The smart home products and services currently envisioned or being developed by many home appliance and telecommunications companies are of this kind. They increase convenience by connecting not only people, as smartphones did, but also objects, especially various devices inside the home. This is a typical example of a connected smart home. In particular, functions that monitor health status and take preventive measures before health abnormalities or diseases develop are expected to advance significantly. However, when looking at these products and services, one realizes something is missing. There are individuals inside the home, but no family. It is not a family smart home but rather a personal smart life device level. The value that smart homes should pursue, a smart home for family and household, is insufficient. There is no challenge regarding how smart homes can contribute to overcoming the problems of modern households.

The function of a house cannot be considered separately from family and household. A house has played a role beyond just sharing space with family. We are all born as children, grow into adults, live as professionals or members of society, meet spouses to become couples and parents, and live a life becoming elderly. Except for periods of independence or living alone after separation, much of life is spent living in a home with family. A house and household protect, nurture, educate, and support the growth of oneself and family. The household is the oldest community among various communities in human history and will probably be the community that lasts the longest. Although single-person households are increasing and have become the most common household type, there cannot be single-person households without going through family or household. Therefore, households where parents and children live together will not disappear. Of course, unless we choose the future depicted in science fiction where children are born in factories.

“Housework is Women’s Duty” Consciousness Remains... Smart Homes Must Solve This

However, modern households are in crisis. The number of young people who do not marry is increasing, and even among those who marry, the number of people who do not have children or live alone after divorce is rising, and more people suffer from depression in loneliness. This is because forming and maintaining a household is difficult. It is the effect of not feeling the reward of growing as a member of the family by relying on and helping each other within the family community. Raising children has become a burden, and some do not have children because they feel they cannot raise them well. This is partly due to social issues such as the environment for raising and educating children and the polarized job market, but directly it is due to the increase in dual-income households. Our society rapidly changed from an agricultural society to an industrial society, but the premodern consciousness of the agricultural society remains, so the custom of women taking on much of the housework continues. Consciousness has not kept pace with social change.

The mass production system brought by the Industrial Revolution brought prosperity to public life. In particular, the white goods revolution with vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and refrigerators reduced women’s housework and historically contributed to women’s social advancement and the enhancement of women’s rights. Now, we are facing the emergence of new spaces called smart homes and smart cities based on new technologies such as digital and AI. When smart homes can help overcome the crisis of modern households, humanity will experience another revolutionary advancement. The emergence of smart homes that liberate people from housework, not just reduce it, is required.

Currently, cooking robots in smart homes operate by moving robot arms like human arms to cook. This approach does not provide a fundamental solution. A machine is needed that, when you put pre-prepared types of meal kits like cartridges into a cooking machine, fries, stirs, or boils inside and serves the food on a plate. Instead of a robot arm washing dishes, a smart kitchen integrated with a sink, dishwasher, and shelves is needed, where simply placing dishes in the sink automatically moves them to the dishwasher, cleans them, and places them on the shelves. If smart homes can solve the housework of dual-income couples, it will help resolve many crises of modern households. Smart homes must operate like an intelligent single machine. Furthermore, the emergence of smart homes that assist in child-rearing and education in new ways is also anticipated. At that time, we will truly welcome a smart home revolution. We look forward to smart homes for happy households.

Myungho Lee, Vice Chairman, The Korean Association of Future Studies

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.