That’s how They Imagined a Smart Home in the BBC 31 Years ago

by cryptheory

March 28, 2025

in AC mania

Reading Time: 2 mins read

What will a British household look like in 2020? They were trying to answer that question on the BBC channel on Tomorrow’s World since 1989. Some parts of the report are surprisingly very accurate.

Voice assistants and artificial intelligence

The moderators rightly guessed that the homes of today’s age will be riddled with technology that at first glance will not be visible at all – it will be built directly into the structure of the house and its furniture. Many activities are to be carried out automatically, for example based on the current movements of the occupants of the house or their habits – switching on and off the lights or adjusting the temperature in individual rooms. The show also counted with voice assistants to take care of your needs, such as launching your favorite music.

Screens in windows

The forecast also briefly focused on smart windows with an integrated screen, which can serve as a TV, monitor to a computer or can be transformed into a simple wall or picture gallery. Even though the displays surround us every corner, they haven’t gotten into the windows in homes yet.

What we will wait for much longer is the removal of electrical outlets from the walls with the possibility of connecting the electrical appliance to any place. So far only small appliances can be charged in this way, only from wireless chargers and not from anywhere.

No heating costs

The presenters of Tomorrow’s World also commented on the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels such as home heating. The materials of the future were shown – sandwich composite with honeycomb and airgel structure. Both are actually used in the construction industry today, the latter for improving the insulating properties of roof windows. But it is still not enough for almost zero household heating bills.