IKEA Skarp kitchen
This week the blogosphere has been chattering about IKEA's The Future of Kitchens event, which was held last Thursday in the Barbican London, as well as the predictions made in a report by The Future Laboratory (a group of London based futurologists).
One of The Future Laboratory's concepts of a futuristic kitchen, entitled the "Smart" kitchen envisions intelligent, next generation technology having everyday uses in the home.
Such technological advances include 3-D food printing, using a device that will control everything from nutritional intake to taste. MIT's conceptual device, The Digital Fabricator works by "storing, mixing, depositing and cooling layers of ingredients through a mixer and extruder head that deposits food combinations with precision." The user will be able to control the flavours and textures of the food by using a touch screen interface.
Another interesting prediction is that the "6th generation iPad" will be used as a centrepiece of the kitchen, mounted inside cupboards or appliacnce panels, and used for everything from tutorials, recipes or reading the news. Of course, getting cooking apps (like the Jamie Oliver app or Epicurious) and mounting an iPad in a cabinet is possible in this day and age, as one creative Youtuber has shown us.
The Future Laboratory also reckons that tighter control on energy usage will be a norm in 2040 - but if you want to try it today, a company called Carbon has designed a kitchen range called Impact that allows you to monitor your kitchen's budget, carbon emissions and even control the thermostat.
Finally, if you're thinking 2040, forget the motion control technology that we're mad raving about these days (with products like the Nintendo Wii and Kinect). Future homes will go a step further, by using the likes of NeuroSky's mind technologies, which measure brainwaves, facial expressions and eye blinks as control signals - seriously.
Can you imagine cooking a turkey just by blinking your eye - or does this just sound like science fiction to you? Leave us a comments and share your opinion!
